


By Any Other Name

by ChasingtheCosmos



Series: By Any Other Name [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Doctor Who 50th Anniversary, Eleventh Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald - Freeform, Episode Fix-It: The Day of the Doctor, F/M, Season 7 AU, Slow Burn, Sort Of, Telepathic Bond, Telepathy, The Doctor/Clara Oswin Oswald - Freeform, Touch Telepathy, mention of Eleventh Doctor/River, mention of Nine/Rose, mention of Ten/Rose, mention of Tentoo/Rose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-14
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-01-30 17:11:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 81,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21431800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChasingtheCosmos/pseuds/ChasingtheCosmos
Summary: "Rose Tyler was dying - or, at least, she was relatively certain that that's what was happening ..."A Season 7 AU where Rose returns to her home universe only to find that 100 years have passed and nothing is quite the way that she remembers it.  She wakes up with a new body, a new life, and a new Doctor.  What has the Bad Wolf gotten her into this time?The 50th Anniversary is included in this story.
Relationships: Eleventh Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler
Series: By Any Other Name [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1545097
Comments: 110
Kudos: 351





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me while I was rewatching Season 7. I remember when Clara's character was first introduced, I was convinced that she was going to be somehow connected to Rose/the Metacrisis Doctor and I was very disappointed when that didn't end up happening. So, this is my way of creating the story I REALLY wanted. :P

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://ibb.co/cgx6zJS)  
  


Rose Tyler was dying - or, at least, she was relatively certain that that's what was happening. She had never actually died before, but she still had a lingering suspicion that it wasn't supposed to be quite like _this_.

It had all started with dreams - dreams of her old life, back in the original universe that she had been born in. She had only had dreams like these twice before in her long life - once when she had originally been trapped here in a universe where giant floating zeppelins constantly littered the skies over London, and once again when the stars began going out and Torchwood had called her in for a special project.

Both times, _he_ had been there, haunting her sleeping hours like a ghost. He was always calling for her, but he always seemed to be just out of her reach. She thought that the dreams would be gone for good when she was dropped off in Norway (_again_) with his half-human double and had consigned herself to a life of following the slow path.

After that, Rose had gone on for nearly seven decades without another single strange dream haunting her in the night. In fact, she had had a long, happy, _normal_ life - well, as normal as a life with _him_ could ever be. It was a life that she never could have imagined herself having, but it was a life that she cherished nonetheless.

She was used to dreaming about him, though - so when the strange dreams finally began to return, Rose tried very hard to convince herself that it was simply grief that was fueling her nightly visions. She had only just lost him earlier that year, after all. And oh, she absolutely _hated_ that phrase - "_lost him_", as though she had simply let him slip through her fingers and he could still be out there somewhere, wandering around, if only she could be bothered to _find him_ again - but she still couldn't quite bring herself to say the "d" word just yet, so "lost" would have to do.

It was his heart that took him in the end - and the _mundanity_ of it all still made her sick to this day. She supposed that he wouldn't have minded, though - he had always been quite fascinated by his single, human heart. Even when he had known that it was his simply humanity that was going to kill him, he hadn't been upset or afraid - he had gone in peace.

So when the dreams started up again soon after that, Rose told herself that it was all just a part of the mourning process. That was normal, right? But she had lost so many during her long, long life - her father (twice), her mother, and more friends than she could count - but none of that had ever brought on such strange dreams.

They started just the way that she remembered from last time - a voice calling her, beckoning her forward and leading her towards ... _something_. This time, though, the voice wasn't his - or, at least, it wasn't _just_ him. It was a strange, singing voice that seemed to contain everything in all of time and space within it. There was also a bright, golden light accompanying it - that was new.

After a few nights of trying to simply shake off the voice and ignore it, it only became more insistent. In fact, it began to form a face and a shape that was familiar and strange, comforting and terrifying all at the same time.

_"Rose, it's time."_

But Rose always vehemently denied it - always pulled back and tried to fight against the current of the voice, the light, the song.

_"Come home."_

After another week of this, the face that spoke to her became more solid - forming the outline of a young girl with blonde hair and golden eyes. She had a gaze that seemed to look right through Rose's skin and peer into her soul.

_"Are you afraid of the big Bad Wolf?"_ When the strange woman cocked her head and smiled at her, it looked like a snarl.

Rose hadn't heard those words in years, and in the dream she always scrambled to try and remember what they meant. The only thing that she knew for certain was that the words were somehow a solid tether to the Doctor - a link that she could follow through all of time and space that would always lead her back to him. 

For the first time since the dreams had started, Rose finally stopped trying to fight them off so hard. She surmised that if these few spoken words were somehow connected to the one man in the entire universe who she most wanted to see, then maybe this strange woman and her glowing aura were simply another beacon, ushering her back to him once more.

After that, the woman's face began to change. Her long golden hair darkened, as did her sparkling yellow eyes.

_"Are you ready to go, now?"_ she asked one night, reaching her hand towards Rose in a calm, beckoning gesture.

Rose's heart beat once, very hard, as everything in her cried out for answers and urged her forward. Still, she hesitated as she brought her hand up and prepared to touch the strange, otherworldly woman.

In her dreams, Rose's hands weren't aged and wrinkled as they were in real life, but as she stepped closer to the glowing creature, the light shining off of her seemed to seep into Rose's own skin, infusing her with a youthful, ephemeral glow.

_"He's waiting,"_ the woman reminded her patiently.

That was all the confirmation that she really needed to hear, in the end - because if the Doctor was somewhere out there looking for her, then Rose Tyler had no choice but to answer his call. She locked her jaw and forced herself to stare directly into the woman's haunting, golden gaze as she stepped forward and finally felt her fingertips connect with the shining light.

_"Just remember ... you can't make soufflés without eggs."_

Before Rose could ask what _that_ odd bit of advice could possibly mean, the eerie melody echoing in Rose's ears took on a strange, familiar rhythm, and she woke up to the sounds of "Habanera" from _Carmen_ ringing in her ears.

\--------------------

After that, Rose's dream took on a strange sort of realism. It was so real, in fact, that she began to question what the lady in gold had actually done to her.

In the dream, she was a different person entirely - though she didn't quite know how she knew that fact (there weren't exactly _mirrors_ lying around in the underground bunker she suddenly found herself in). Dream logic seemed to fill in the gaps, though, and when she was asked, she succinctly informed her companions that she was Oswin Oswald, junior entertainment manager for Starship Alaska.

The man who had done the asking called himself the Doctor. The name rang in her head like a memory - or, perhaps it was more like an alarm - but Rose couldn't quite manage to place where she had heard it before. She certainly didn't recognize his face - she was positive that she wouldn't ever be able to forget a _chin_ like that.

There was a young couple with him, too - a tall, skinny Scottish girl called Amy and a man with quite the remarkable nose who they called Rory.

The whole adventure reminded Rose of her old days of traveling around in the TARDIS, but in the dream she couldn't seem to remember her past with any sort of specificity. It was simply as though she felt a strange, reminiscent ache for days gone by as she - as _Oswin_ \- helped the Doctor and his friends navigate an old, derelict dalek asylum.

The odd dream turned into a nightmare when it turned out that she wasn't a junior entertainment manager at all - but rather a living mind trapped inside the shell of one of the most feared and hated creatures in all of existence.

It all went quite mad after that, but Rose made sure that the Doctor and his companions made it out alive, even if she didn't. She couldn't quite explain why the urge to save them was so overwhelmingly important, but it didn't really matter. She only knew that the daleks needed to be defeated, and the Doctor needed to live to fight them another day.

The dream ended in a burst of fire and heat, which then dissipated back into that now-familiar glowing, gold light of her reoccurring nightly visions. When she opened her eyes again, Rose was staring into the face of the woman who she now somehow knew was the Oswin girl, though her normally brown eyes were golden as she smiled up at Rose.

_"Did you enjoy seeing him again?"_ she asked, her voice somehow patient and teasing all at the same time.

_"Why are you doing this?"_ Rose demanded angrily. _"Why can't you just leave me alone and let me die in peace?"_

_"Because you're not dying, Rose Tyler,"_ the woman replied evenly. _"Think of it simply as ... the next step in your journey."_

_"What are you talking about?"_ Rose sighed wearily.

_"Don't you remember?"_ the Oswin-looking girl asked, tilting her head at Rose as though she were a wild animal trying to get a better look at its prey.

At her prompting, a memory flashed in Rose's head - a memory that she had tucked away and forgotten long ago. She blinked and suddenly she was back on Satellite Five with the entirety of the time vortex running through her mind. _"I can see all that is, all that was, all that ever could be ..."_ her past self muttered, her eyes glowing bright with the same golden haze that was standing before her now.

_"The Bad Wolf,"_ Rose muttered as understanding finally crashed over her in waves. _"You're the Bad Wolf."_

The creature before her smiled ferally once more, her eyes flashing somehow impossibly brighter. _"You know me,"_ the woman replied slowly. _"I have been with you throughout all of time and space, Rose Tyler, and I have come again to usher you into the next chapter of your journey."_

_"But what does that mean?"_ Rose asked desperately. _"What's going to happen to me?"_

_"Your old body will die,"_ the Bad Wolf explained in an emotionless monotone, _"but the mind will move on to a new one."_

_"A ... new body?"_

_"In time,"_ the Bad Wolf agreed simply. _"It will take a lot of energy to get you back to that world, but it will happen. It has already happened. It will always happen. This has been designed from the moment that you looked into the heart of the TARDIS."_

_"So all of that ... that dream with the daleks ..."_ Rose's words trailed off as the memories of the dream suddenly came rushing back to her. That man with the chin ... _could it really be_?

_"It was a weak connection,"_ the Bad Wolf explained slowly. _"In time, you will be tied to that world world more concretely. For now, you experience these things as dreams."_

_"And ... the Doctor?"_ Rose asked hesitantly, barely daring to hope.

_"He's alive and well. And waiting for you."_

_"But ... the name ... I called myself 'Oswin' ..."_ Rose continued, still trying to wrap her head around this great, impossible situation.

_"Oswin, Rose, Clara, Bad Wolf - what's in a name?"_ the creature asked, flashing her odd, inhuman smile once more.

_"Okay, but ... in the dream I couldn't remember who I was. Not properly, at least,"_ Rose insisted. _"How am I supposed to find the Doctor again if I don't even know who I am?"_

_"The connections will build in time,"_ the Bad Wolf assured her. _"All will happen as it was designed to happen. You'll see it all very soon, when I come again at Christmas."_

_"Christmas?"_ Rose repeated dubiously.

_"Until then, Rose Tyler ..."_

And then her eyelids snapped open and Rose came awake with a startled gasp. Her eyesight was no longer as good as it had once been, but in the pitch-black darkness of her room, she could easily see that there was a strange, yellow glow coming off of her skin. She breathed out a heavy, confused sigh and a swirl of bright golden energy drifted from between her lips like smoke and danced before her eyes.

It was all so completely, ridiculously, _impossibly_ mad, but when she got up the next morning, Rose still made sure to mark her calendar and count the days left until Christmas. She had to admit that she was interested to see what the Bad Wolf would show her next.


	2. Chapter Two

That Christmas, Rose spent the entire day surrounded by warmth, good food, and her remaining family members. Tony had brought all of the children and grandchildren around, knowing that it might well be their last holiday spent together. Rose spent hours just talking, laughing, and reminiscing about Christmases gone by with her loved ones.

It was only her second Christmas without her husband, and the entire gathering still felt oddly unbalanced without him making a mess in the kitchen and telling outlandish stories to all of the grandkids. Tony did his best to brighten the mood, and for that Rose was grateful - but it just wasn't the same without the Doctor.

By the time they had exchanged gifts, cleaned up for the night, and said their final farewells, Rose was completely and utterly exhausted. In fact, she didn't even make it back to her room before she nodded off in the old wooden rocking chair that her husband had made her for her sixty-third birthday. As she slowly drifted into unconsciousness, the warm glow of the Christmas tree lights blurred in her vision, flared, and then reformed into the shape of a woman.

This time, the Bad Wolf seemed to be vacillating between the woman Rose knew as Oswin, and Rose's own nineteen-year-old face. The creature was an amorphous, shifting mix of the two as she laid her hand on Rose's shoulder and breathed time energy over her skin. Instantly, Rose felt revitalized, and when she rose to stand next to the woman, she felt as though she were suddenly seventy years younger.

_"He is in pain,"_ the Bad Wolf murmured softly. _"He needs you now more than ever."_

_"Ditto,"_ Rose replied wryly. _"Show me."_

The golden light around the Bad Wolf flared once more and a whirlwind of cool London snow swirled around her, and suddenly Rose Tyler was another woman again.

\--------------------

This time, she was in the past - somehow with the same borrowed face, but now with a new name. She called herself Clara Oswald - an odd woman who shifted between barmaid and governess as easily as the Bad Wolf shifted her face.

Rose slipped easily into Clara's strange double-life and experienced everything through her eyes - just as she had with Oswin in the dalek asylum. This time, however, Rose was able to retain her own mind as well. The whole experience was disorienting to say the least - she felt like an outsider, somehow able to experience all that Clara was experiencing, but still not quite able to participate.

When Rose saw the man with the chin again, her heart leapt within her chest even as Clara addressed him as a stranger. However, she felt a lead weight settling into her stomach when he turned to look at her and Rose realized that the Bad Wolf had been right in her assessment of him. Something must have gone horribly, terribly wrong - he was in pain, and Rose instantly felt the overwhelming desire to reach out and soothe him in whatever way she could. The darkness in his strange (yet oddly _familiar_) green eyes made her ache for him in a way that she hadn't felt since her husband died.

Rose feared that he might be traveling alone once more (which he should never, _ever_ do), but those fears were quickly put to rest as Clara snuck after him and she was able to steal a glimpse into the strange life that he had made for himself in late nineteenth century London. He had certainly moved on from human companions, though - Strax and Madame Vastra and Jenny all gave Clara quite the shock, but they simply reminded Rose of the good old days when meeting new species (even ones outside of their typical times and habitats) was just a typical Thursday afternoon.

What _did_ shock Rose was that persistent darkness that lingered behind the Doctor's eyes, no matter what sort of strange snow-themed threat they happened to face down. She wanted so badly to reach out for him, but trapped in Clara's mind as she was, there was nothing that she could do but quietly pine away in sorrow.

However, she suspected that a bit of that pining might have finally broken through the barrier between universes when Clara suddenly grabbed the Doctor's neck and forced her lips onto his. Rose felt an odd mix of offense and pleasure at the action - since it was technically not _her_ lips that were currently snogging the Doctor, but she still got to receive all of the sensations that went along with it anyway.

When she had traveled with the Doctor in the past, Rose had had the particular misfortune of having to watch her daft old alien get snogged many times by various different characters and species. Neither of the regenerations that Rose had known had ever particularly enjoyed the physical intrusion, but they usually bore it with a resigned mix of politeness and disgust (depending on said creature doing the snogging).

This new Doctor, however, was quite different - he flailed around as though he wanted to push Clara away but didn't quite know how, and his cheeks flushed in an expression that Rose had only ever really seen on her husband. He stuttered awkwardly for a moment as soon as Clara released him and then ran off to distract himself with something new, as he was wont to do.

Still, Rose held on to the lingering sensation of that kiss like a lifeline, silently begging the universe for one more chance to be with the love of her life. She supposed that if she really were dying, as the Bad Wolf had suggested, then at least she could console herself with the fact that she had gotten one last kiss from the Doctor before she went.

However, the kiss kicked off a whole new bout of flirting while fighting to survive, and Rose honestly had no idea how much she had _missed_ this until she was forced to witness it through another woman's eyes. Did the Doctor really have to be like this with every human girl who crossed his path?

She wondered idly how long it had been for him since he had said goodbye to her. How long had he mourned her departure before pushing her aside and moving on with some new, pretty companion?

Rose was about to descend into a fit of frustration and bitterness when the Doctor suddenly led Clara through a familiar pair of blue wooden doors, and for once Rose's awe matched Clara's exactly. The TARDIS desktop had been changed, but that wasn't the fact that caught and held Rose's attention. No, what surprised her the most was the fact that she could actually hear the time ship in her head, singing her a sweet song of welcome and joy that she had never heard before. The feel of the sentient ship in her mind was similar to how she perceived the Bad Wolf, and Rose's thoughts glowed gold as something deep inside of her gave an automatic, heartfelt response.

_Did you miss me, Old Girl?_ she asked, near breathless with the sensation of peace and _home_ and _rightness_ that threatened to overwhelm her.

The TARDIS made a chiming noise of happiness in response and telepathically beckoned her in, filling Rose with the need to run deep inside of her labyrinthine hallways and never, ever leave.

Clara, however, was still too busy interrogating the Doctor to be persuaded to follow any of Rose's subconscious urges.

When she suddenly mentioned soufflés, Rose was reminded both of Oswin the dalek as well as her own adventures with desserts back in the universe she was currently living in.

With her memories remaining fully intact, Rose was able to remember that soufflés had been an odd sort of running joke between her and the half-human Doctor back when he had joined her in "Pete's World". The fact of the matter was that Rose had never been very adept in the kitchen, but she tried hard anyway. However, adding a half-Time-Lord with a short attention span into the mix hadn't exactly _helped_ the matter. The two of them had destroyed probably three dozen different soufflés, and a good portion of their kitchen, before they had finally perfected the recipe. 

It became a special treat that they had continued to make for one another for holidays and anniversaries over the years - birthday cakes were something that Rose's family hadn't bothered with for a long time.

She was so lost in her cherished memories of her husband that Rose had lost track of the conversation going on between the Doctor and Clara until suddenly her entire attention was honed in on a single, silver key. The Doctor held it before Clara's face like a promise and Rose felt her heart lurch in her chest as she longed with every fiber of her being to reach out and claim it as her own.

The Doctor watched her intently as he slipped the small key into her - _Clara's_ \- hand and then gently folded her fingers securely over it. Rose noticed that in addition to the concerning darkness hiding just behind his green eyes, he looked so incredibly _tired_ as well. Perhaps he really had been through more than she had first realized during his time away from her.

"What is this?" Clara asked breathlessly. 

The outline of the TARDIS key pressing into the soft skin of her palm and the low keening noise of the time ship herself made Rose want to scream with her sheer desire to be back in that ridiculous blue box where she knew she belonged.

"Me," the Doctor replied cryptically, "giving in."

Rose didn't miss the way that he looked Clara up and down as said it, as though he were sneaking a peek at the last page of a new book and he was quite excited by what he saw. Rose wanted to capture that look and preserve it somehow - just to keep it jealously bottled away for all time where no other woman could ever see it except for herself.

She felt hot tears running over her eyelids and streaking down her cheeks as her longing for her husband and this man combined and built within her until they overflowed in a physical manifestation that Clara couldn't seem to fully suppress. She hadn't realized that her overwhelming emotions had breached the space between her and Clara until the Doctor's face screwed up into an expression of soft discomfort and worry.

"I don't know why I'm crying," Clara muttered, laughing dismissively in an attempt to fight off the tears that were not her own.

"I do," the Doctor replied with a smile. "Remember this - remember this, right now, all of it. Because this is the day - this is the day! This is the day everything begins!"

And just like that, Rose was nineteen again and she was placing her heart in the hands of this daft old Time Lord and asking him to show her the stars. She would follow him anywhere - do anything - just to remain at his side.

She was about to open her mouth and somehow force that sentiment across the divide and out of Clara's lips when suddenly there was a cool, vice-like grip around her shoulders, and then she was being dragged forcibly backwards, out of the one place in the universe that she never wanted to leave.

When Clara tripped over the edge of the Doctor's cloud and began to fall the long way down towards the frozen ground below, the dream suddenly took an odd and unexpected shift. Rose's consciousness wasn't simply limited to the eyes, ears, and sensations of Clara anymore. It was more like she was herself again, only no one else could see or hear her as she followed the Doctor and witnessed his heartbreakingly desperate attempt to save the young girl's life.

On this side of things, Rose got her first clear look at the woman who's face she had been taking on during her strange adventures back in her home universe. She could see why the Doctor found it so easy to flirt with her - she was as petite and fine as a porcelain doll, with long brown ringlets hanging over her shoulders and intelligent, dark eyes.

Rose watched in resigned fascination as the Doctor reassured the young girl with one hand in her hair and the other gently forcing Clara's fingers to close firmly around the TARDIS key once more.

"Will you come away with me?" he asked, the desperation in his eyes so heart-wrenching that it nearly took Rose's breath away.

Clara agreed, just as Rose knew that she would - how could any girl possibly say no to a request and a man like that?

Rose went with the Doctor in Clara's place as he faced off against the Great Intelligence and defeated the killer snowmen once and for all. Even though he had no idea that she was there with him, Rose hoped that her invisible presence might be some sort of strange comfort to him.

Their victory was soured, however, as the Doctor leaned over Clara one last time to say goodbye. Right before she breathed her last, Rose caught a spark of gold on the edge of her vision as Clara quietly murmured her parting words. Rose recognized the girl's quiet command from the dalek asylum, and she could see from the expression on the Doctor's face that he had recognized it, too.

"Run. Run, you clever boy, and remember."

_"These are the words of the Wolf,"_ an odd, inhuman voice interrupted. _"They are a decree to bring you back to the Doctor."_

Rose blinked hard and suddenly the image of nineteenth century London faded from view and was replaced by the glow of the Bad Wolf. She was once again wearing Clara's face - or was it Oswin? Oswald? So many names ...

_"Do you see now why you must go back?"_ the creature asked, her tone calm and patient.

_"No,"_ Rose replied, trying and failing to not sound petulant as she did so. _"Seems to me that he has everything he needs in this Clara girl. Who is she, anyway? Why do you keep putting me inside of her head?"_

_"She is a construct,"_ the Bad Wolf explained. _"She is a tool - a vessel."_

_"But ... she's a woman,"_ Rose protested in confusion. _"A real, breathing, human woman."_

_"No,"_ the Wolf replied simply. _"She is not."_

_"Well can you at least tell me what the point of this whole exercise is?"_ Rose demanded, still feeling lost and completely out of her depth. _"Why are you showing me all of these things?"_

_"The next time I come for you, it will be the last,"_ the Bad Wolf answered cryptically.

_"What do you mean? Is that when I'm going to die?"_

_"No,"_ the creature repeated once more. _"It is when you will be transported."_

_"Transported where?"_ Rose asked warily.

_"Home."_

There was another brief flash of golden light, and when Rose blinked, she was back in her house again, with only the warm glow of the Christmas tree and the lingering wisps of time energy to keep her company.


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hold on tight because we're officially going off-canon with this one! From here on out there will be dialogue from canon sprinkled in, but there'll be additions and plot changes as well.

It didn't take Rose long to square everything away back in her waking life. Most of her physical assets had been bequeathed to her after Pete had passed away, so it was easy enough to pass on what remained to Tony and his descendants. She left all of her husband's remaining things to Tony as well. She knew that her brother would look after the Doctor's memory in this universe and pass on his fantastic, impossible stories so that they might live on forever.

Still, she was forced to wait for three more months before the Bad Wolf visited her again. And in that time, Rose never once stopped dreaming about him. Every night he was there, waiting for her in some form or another. Sometimes they were memories of their past adventures. Sometimes they were recollections from the two previous times when the Bad Wolf had allowed her a glimpse into the parallel world. Sometimes, it was just her and her husband living a normal, human life. His face never looked the same way twice, but it was always, without fail, the exact same man.

She was dreaming of his newest face - the one with the floppy hair and the youthful complexion - when the Bad Wolf finally came for her again.

_"Are you ready?"_ the lady in gold asked gently.

_"Does it matter?"_ Rose asked sarcastically.

_"No,"_ the Bad Wolf agreed simply. _"But I have seen all of time and space and I know how humans can be about death."_

_"Well, you already told me that it's not really a death, remember?"_ Rose reminded her teasingly. She sobered quickly under the creature's strange, otherworldly expression, though, and she added, _"What's going to happen to my body?"_

_"It will disappear from that universe and your atoms will be redistributed as your mind is pulled into this universe, where your cells will reconverge and form into a new body,"_ the Bad Wolf replied, her words rattling off in that factual, practical way that Rose had always associated with the Doctor.

_"Right,"_ Rose sighed slowly. No chance she had the time to work that one out, so she simply took one last deep breath before completely surrendering herself to the alluring hum of the Bad Wolf's energy. She had another brief flash of memory from her life from oh, so long ago when she had seen for just a moment all of time and space laid out before her in the time vortex. Somehow, Rose knew that this had to happen - that it was always going to happen - in exactly this way.

Rose felt no sense of fear or foreboding as she stepped into the blinding golden light of time and felt herself being slowly disintegrated into atoms. She simply filled her mind with memories of the Doctor and trusted the universe to sort out the rest.

\--------------------

This time, when she awoke in her home universe, it was so immensely different from anything that she had experienced before that it made Rose's head spin. She wasn't just dreaming anymore - the Bad Wolf had taken her way past that. She was actually, properly _there_ \- lying in a bed that she didn't immediately recognize and looking around at a stranger's room.

She supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised when she looked down and noticed a young, petite frame instead of her usual body- she should have been used to the Bad Wolf putting her into other people's heads by now. But it _wasn't_ someone else's head - not this time. It was _hers_.

"Okay ..." Rose muttered slowly, her throat closing up in surprise when a strange voice suddenly sprang of her mouth and reached her ears.

"Hold on ..." she gasped breathlessly, "that's ... that's a _new voice_!"

She immediately jumped to her feet and began scanning about the strange room in search of some sort of reflective surface. Everything around her felt ... _different_ in a way that she had never experienced before. She blinked hard a few times and realized that it wasn't her eyes playing tricks on her - she was simply a few inches shorter than she was used to.

"Alright, this is really, properly weird," she muttered out loud to herself. "Have I finally lost it?"

Unable to find a mirror anywhere during her cursory glance of the room, Rose moved to the desk chair sitting at the end of her borrowed bed and collapsed down into it, suddenly feeling weak-kneed and dizzy. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her gaze to the black laptop screen sitting on the desk before her, and in its darkened reflection, she finally caught a proper glimpse of herself.

She was the same girl again - the Clara/Oswin/Oswald woman.

"No way," Rose gasped out loud in surprise, blinking hard at her odd new reflection and then reaching up to tentatively poke her own cheek in disbelief. "This is ... this is _completely_ mad."

"Clara!"

The sudden voice made her startle and Rose had to choke down a scream as a young girl suddenly filled the doorway to her left.

"What, can you seriously still not get it to work?" the stranger asked, rolling her eyes at Rose in that bored, exasperated way that all teenagers did.

"What? What's not working?" Rose stuttered awkwardly.

"Your ... computer," the girl replied, looking confusedly between Rose and her darkened laptop screen. "You know that it has to be turned _on_, right?"

"Er, right!" Rose agreed, her voice coming out thin and slightly shrill as she fought to get a handle on the insane situation that she had suddenly found herself in. "Right, of course. I knew that."

"Right ..." the young girl replied skeptically. "Well, is it okay if I go and see Nina? You can call her mum."

"Er, yeah, sure, of course!" Rose replied brightly, attempting to hide her confusion and worry with a forced smile and a terse nod. It was obvious that this girl somehow knew her, but Rose had no idea what their relationship was. Were they related? Was Rose somehow meant to be watching her? She didn't even know this girl's name!

The girl smiled at her, though - obviously pleased to have gotten what she wanted. She hesitated in the doorway for just a moment more and then turned a thoughtful look on Rose. "You should phone that number if you're still having trouble," she suggested.

"Number?" Rose repeated, tilting her head in question at the young girl.

"Yeah, that number you got from the lady at the tech shop," the teenager elaborated with another haughty roll of her eyes. "It's a help line."

"Right, yes," Rose muttered distractedly. "I'll do that, then, I'll call them!"

The teenager flashed Rose one last strange, skeptical look before she disappeared from the doorway and left Rose alone with her own thoughts once more.

"Right, then, I'll just phone them, shall I?" Rose muttered under her breath to herself. "I'll tell them all about how I've just woken up in a different universe, in a different _body_ and see if they've got any specialists for that."

She paused for a moment in her one-sided monologue and watched her expression screw into one of confusion as she met her eyes in the dark monitor of her laptop once more. "Why am I talking to myself like this? I don't usually do this ..." she mused to herself, cocking her head to the side as she leaned in closer to her reflection. "Do all of these words just come along with the new body? Is this what's meant to happen? Blimey, now I know how the _Doctor_ feels ..."

Her words halted again and she watched her strange new face shift into an expression of wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock. "The Doctor!" she gasped. "Of course!"

Rose suddenly remembered that she had been brought here by the Bad Wolf to find the Doctor. The only question now was - how was she supposed to do that? She didn't even rightfully know where and when she was, let alone where he might be on his own timeline. She wondered if this universe's Torchwood was still up and running - if she could hack their databases, then maybe she could find a clue as to where he was and what he was currently doing.

Rose reached forward and powered on the laptop without a second thought, waiting impatiently as it booted up. Her foot jiggled underneath the desk table and she bit her lip in anticipation as she watched the loading bar slowly fill and then the stock image of a wide, open field underneath a bright blue sky lit up her desktop screen.

She immediately attempted to open the Internet, but an error message interrupted her, telling her that she was having network connectivity issues.

"Oh, _come on_," she groaned under her breath, moving to click on the empty-looking Wi-Fi button at the bottom of her screen. But it seemed that her laptop wasn't able to pick up any nearby networks and her screen remained as blank and unresponsive as ever.

Suddenly, Rose caught sight of a bright yellow post-it note clinging to the edge of the desk near her right hand. It had a phone number scrawled on it in an unrecognizable hand along with an eight-digit string of nonsense letters and numbers. Her gaze immediately moved up to the phone that was sitting on a charging cradle on the far corner of the desk and Rose narrowed her eyes on it speculatively before finally shrugging and reaching for it.

She dialed the number that had been left for her and was about to hang up after the tenth ring when suddenly a man's voice met her ears.

"Hello?"

"Ah! Hello!" Rose replied brightly. "I can't find the Internet."

"Sorry ...?" the man responded slowly.

"Well, I'm trying to get my Wi-Fi connected," she elaborated, "but it's like ... there's nothing there?"

"The _Internet_?" the man repeated dubiously. "It's 1207 ..."

"No, I've got half-past three," Rose replied slowly, glancing at the date and time readout at the bottom of her laptop screen. "Could that be a part of the issue? Is there something wrong with my settings?"

"Listen, where did you get this number?" the man demanded, completely ignoring her.

"The ... woman in the shop?" she replied hesitantly. That _is_ what the teenager had said, right? Some lady had given her that number? "Someone wrote it down for me. This ... this _is_ a helpline, isn't it?"

"What woman? Who was she?" the man asked, his voice just as confused and demanding as ever.

"I don't know, she was just some woman," Rose replied evasively. "So, is this a helpline or not? Can you help me fix my computer?"

"Well, I'm not actually ... this isn't ..." the man stuttered awkwardly before sighing heavily and asking, "You _have_ clicked on the Wi-Fi button, haven't you?"

"Of course I have," Rose snapped impatiently. "It's not my first time using one of these things, you know, I just ..." Her words ended on a gasp as a new network connection suddenly popped up on her screen. It was labeled "Maitland_Family" and it was at full bars. She clicked on it without a second thought, eager to have this issue fixed so that she could move on to more important things.

"Oh, wait! Something's just come up," she explained into the phone receiver. A window filled the center of her screen, prompting her for a password. "Oh, but it needs a password ..."

"So ... put in your password ..." the man replied slowly.

Rose was really getting tired of his condescending remarks very quickly. She rolled her eyes as she remembered all of the times when she was still so young and the Doctor had treated her like a dribbling, useless child.

"Yeah, thanks, I know how passwords work," she responded tersely. "I just haven't got one ..."

"Well, you'll need a password ..." the man explained with a sigh.

"Oh, wait!" Rose cut him off, remembering once more the small yellow post-it note where she had first found the number to call him. "There's some letters and numbers written down here, I'll try that ..."

It wasn't until she was four digits into the strange sequence that something clicked in her mind and her fingers immediately froze over the keyboard as she stared down in shock at the eight-digit code.

"Well ...?" the man on the other end of the line was prompting her. "Did that work?"

But Rose couldn't find it in herself to answer him. She was still too busy simply staring at those six seemingly-random letters scrawled out in pen before her.

"Oh ..." she breathed softly. "But that's ..."

"What? What is it now?" the man asked irritatedly.

_RYCBAR_

"Run, you clever boy," Rose whispered as images from her vivid dreams played before her eyes like a movie reel, "and remember ..."

"What did you say?" the man demanded, his voice cracking through the connection as his words came out in a shout.

"It's ..." Rose attempted weakly, but her words were cut off as a loud pounding began to shake the room around her and the sound of a doorbell being insistently rung filled her ears.

"Oi!" she snapped, instantly hanging up the phone and shutting her laptop in frustration. "What's all that noise, then?"

She peered curiously out of the room that she still hadn't managed to venture out of yet and had a look around the corridor outside. It seemed that she was in some sort of small, two-story house and - since the teenager had left - she was completely alone.

Did she live here, then? Would it be odd for her to check the door and see who could be trying so desperately to get in?

Rose decided that she would have to take her chances, because there was no way she could sit through the rest of the day with all of the racket that the person at the door was making.

"Hello, yes, I hear you!" she called out over the noise as she quickly descended to the lower level of the house. The mottled glass door at the foot of the stairs gave her a blurry look at the person making all of the fuss outside, and she could see what looked like the outline of a man in strange brown robes.

"Hello?" she asked as she turned the knob on the unfamiliar door to reveal ...

"Clara!" the man breathed in quiet disbelief. "Clara Oswald!"

"Oh," Rose replied intelligently as she matched the man's wide-eyed expression of shock. She was distantly aware that her mouth was hanging slightly open, waiting for her to come up with something better to say, but no words came.

Because standing right in front of her with a brand new face and a look in his eyes like a dying man who had finally found salvation was none other than the Doctor.


	4. Chapter Four

"Clara Oswin Oswald!"

Astonishment and excitement flitted across the Doctor's face as he stood and stared at Rose, seeming to vibrate with barely-contained energy.

"No, it's ..." she muttered breathlessly. _Rose! It's me, Rose!_ she thought desperately, but the words were choked off in her throat, refusing to be spoken. How could she possibly tell him who she really was? How would he even believe her, when she could barely believe it herself? How could she explain what she barely understood?

"Clara. It's just ... Clara," she finished lamely, blinking hard and forcing herself to focus. She didn't really want to lie to the Doctor, but until she had a better understanding of what exactly was going on, Rose decided to play her cards close to her chest. After all, she didn't even really know who this man was anymore - she had no way of knowing how many years had passed for him between their last goodbye on Bad Wolf Bay and now. 

"Do you remember me?" he asked eagerly, seeming to be oblivious to her internal struggle. The Doctor's hands were fidgeting restlessly as though he longed to reach out and grab her. 

Rose watched him with a guarded expression, wondering how exactly she was meant to answer this question. Yes, she remembered this new Doctor - but she had only ever met him in dreams before. And the "Clara" that he had met back at the dalek asylum and in nineteenth century England wasn't _her_, either. 

"No," she replied awkwardly. "Should I? Who are you?" 

"The Doctor!" he insisted, stepping through the threshold without being invited and smiling at her as though he expected her to suddenly catch on and throw herself into his arms. "No? The Doctor?" he continued, his grin falling into a look of confused hurt as Rose continued to simply stare up at him in disbelief. 

He was so close to her, his eyes scanning every inch of her face for even the slightest hint of recognition. Rose wondered if his refusal to respect personal boundaries was a thing that he did with everyone now, or if it was just her. And if it _was_ just her, then was it Clara or was it actually _her_? Rose had so many questions perched right on the tip of her tongue, but she had absolutely no idea how to begin to give voice to any of them. 

"What are you doing here?" she asked, finally settling on the question that seemed the safest. 

The Doctor flashed her an odd look before taking half a step back and exclaiming, "Well, I came here for you, of course! You phoned me - you were looking for the Internet." 

"That was you?" she asked disbelievingly. 

"Of course it was me," he answered with a shrug, his hands never once stilling as he continued to fidget restlessly before her. 

"What, _you've_ got a helpline number?" she insisted dubiously. Blimey, had he changed that much? 

"So what if I have?" he asked defensively, giving her another strange, hooded look. His jaw was working as though he were slowly chewing over his next words before he finally asked, "Are you _sure_ you don't remember me?" 

"Yes, I'm sure," Rose lied with an easy shrug. She flashed him a teasing smile as she added, "I think I'd remember a chin like that." 

"Oi!" he bit back defensively, giving her a look of mock offense as he rubbed his hands over said chin before narrowing his eyes at her once more. "Fine. If you're so sure, then I'll just be on my way, then." 

Without hesitating, he flashed her his trademark, manic Doctor-smile and then turned around in a flurry of brown robes to head back out of the doorway that he had so rudely barged through just a moment ago. 

"Wait!" Rose called after him, not really sure what she was going to say next, but knowing that she couldn't just let him _leave_ like this. "Doctor ..." 

But her words melted away as Rose took in the sight of the big blue box parked in the grass right outside of the front door of the strange new house that she had woken up in. The Old Girl looked bigger than what Rose remembered, but it was hard to tell if that was because Rose's dreams had never really been able to do her justice, or if she actually had grown a few inches in either direction. 

The Doctor, however, ignored Rose's call and subsequent slack-jawed expression as he swung through the doors without a backwards glance and disappeared into the depths of his old time ship. 

Rose didn't realize that she had unconsciously moved closer until her fingertips grazed against the bright blue wood and she gasped out loud as a song of elation and welcome immediately erupted in her mind. 

"Oh!" she sighed, letting her eyes slip closed and basking in the warmth that the TARDIS was projecting into her head. "Hello again," she murmured. 

The TARDIS's song swelled until it felt as though it would shatter her skull with its magnitude and Rose became distantly aware that she was losing consciousness once more. She didn't have time to open her mouth and ask what was going on - she barely even had a second to register that something was happening before her legs buckled underneath her and she collapsed to the ground. 

The only thing that she could remember was that there was a whisper in her mind - a faceless, feminine voice singing softly to her as she slept. _Welcome home,_ the voice sighed happily. _At long last, welcome home._

_ __ _

\--------------------

When Rose woke again, she half-expected to be back in the universe that Doctor had once dubbed "Pete's World", with nothing but an old, weary body and a house that was too large and too empty.

Instead, she awoke curled up in a bed that she had been in just a few hours before with an aching head and a few new, hazy memories. Rose blinked hard and forced herself to focus on the nightstand before her eyes as the room slowly came into focus. She couldn't remember if the vase of flowers had been there before, but the plate of biscuits and the glass of water were definitely new additions. Had the Doctor put them there?

The flowers sparked an old hurt deep within her as Rose remembered her husband and the way that he would constantly find excuses to spontaneously leave her little gifts when she wasn't paying attention. Sometimes, they were just a few scrawled notes on a scrap of paper. Sometimes it was some small gadget or bauble that he had fashioned together by hand. More often than not, though, he liked to leave her roses.

These flowers, she noted, were _not_ roses - and she wasn't sure if that made her feel better or worse.

Rose sighed as she forced herself to sit up and rub the sleep from her eyes. There was still an odd humming going on in the back of her mind that she couldn't quite seem to shake. She subconsciously allowed herself to be led forward by it and ended up coming to a stop at a small window that was in the wall at the foot of her bed.

Her gaze immediately settled on the familiar blue box that still sat parked exactly where she had last seen it, and the man sitting in a folding chair just outside of it. It seemed that the Doctor had exchanged the monk robes for dark trousers, a white Oxford, and a dark coat that looked faintly Victorian. There was also a bowtie hanging just under that iconic chin of his, but Rose couldn't decipher its true color due to the dim lighting of the dark street outside.

All in all, she thought that the new clothes suited him much better than the robes did, and Rose took a quiet moment to examine this (_new, new_) new Doctor while he sat there, bent over and fiddling with something in his lap that she couldn't see. His face was even younger than the last one she had seen, but she could tell that he had seen more than his fair share of added years during his time apart from her. But to someone just walking down the street with no idea of who (or _what_) he was, he would simply look like a handsome (if odd), young bloke.

Rose found herself grateful (not for the first time) that the Bad Wolf had gifted her with her own new body as well. This way, they at least _looked_ equally matched, even if he still had over nine centuries on her.

"Hello ...?" she finally called down to him, her voice slow and hesitant as she decided to put an end to her musing and get his attention.

He blinked up at her in surprise for a moment before jumping to his feet and greeting her with a wide, infectious smile. "Hello!" he answered cheerily. "Are you alright?"

"I'm in bed," she stated flatly.

"Yes!"

"Don't remember going ..."

"No."

"What happened?"

"Ah, well, you seem to have lost consciousness outside of my fantastic blue box, here," the Doctor explained, gesturing to the TARDIS at his back and flashing her a teasing smile. "It was a bit odd. Most people wait until they get on the inside to do that."

"Right," Rose replied, her eyebrows drawing together in a confused expression. "Sorry."

"Nah, happens all the time," the Doctor scoffed, gesturing wildly with his hands as he easily brushed off her apology. "I do a lot of traveling, you know - been through my share of rough trips. Losing consciousness tends to happen every now and then."

"And ... what are you doing down there?" Rose asked, pointedly nodding to the folding chair behind him.

"Just working," he replied lightly. "You know - keeping an eye on things."

"'Things'?" she repeated dubiously, raising a teasing brow at him.

"Yes, 'things'," he agreed.

"You mean me?"

The Doctor lowered his gaze, then, and his suddenly sheepish expression made Rose smile. However, he had that strange, suspicious look in his eye once more when he finally looked up at her again, and she could feel her self-satisfied grin instantly fall into an expression of confused concern.

"Yes," he finally replied, his voice low and dangerous. "Among other things."

"Why?" she insisted curiously.

"Because you ask the wrong questions," he answered simply, turning his back on her and hunching back down into his folding chair with a heavy sigh.

It was Rose's turn to narrow her eyes in suspicion as she silently watched him for a few moments. However, it was soon made clear that she wasn't going to be able to get any answers by yelling at him from out of her window (_was_ it her window?), so she quickly shut and locked the latch and raced down the stairs once more to join him. 

He was bent over in the exact same position that she had left him in, fiddling with something in his lap again. Rose thought that she heard a familiar whirring noise, but it cut off as soon as she stepped closer to him and he stashed the thing away in his jacket pocket before she could get a better look.

"What do you mean, I 'ask the wrong questions'?" she asked him quietly.

"You know, I've been bouncing around this planet for over a thousand years," the Doctor mused out loud, "met a lot of humans in my time. Most of them don't just accept my name, though. It's always 'Doctor _who_', and 'that's not a _real_ name', or something like that. But you ..." He turned to flash her a weighted expression out of the corner of his eye as he slowly regarded her from top to bottom. "You insist that we've never met, and yet you just accepted it, no questions asked."

Rose opened her mouth to respond, but she was cut off as he jumped to his feet once more and began pacing dramatically around the TARDIS. "And this!" he exclaimed loudly, rapping his hands against the blue paneling for emphasis. "What about this, eh? Great big blue box parked right outside your house with no explanation as to how it got there. Strange man goes inside and comes out wearing a completely new outfit." He tugged his lapels and straightened his bowtie as he flashed her a teasing, challenging grin before asking, "Not even the slightest bit curious?"

"Hold on," Rose insisted, bringing her hands up as though to grab him and force him to be still. It seemed that this version of the Doctor could be just as exhaustively energetic as the last one she had met. "Did you say ... 'a thousand years'?" she asked slowly.

The Doctor blinked at her for a moment before another wild grin stretched over his young new features. "Ah, there, you see? Now you're getting it," he stated brightly. "_That's_ the right question."


	5. Chapter Five

Rose felt sick to her stomach. Over a century - _over a century_ he had been wandering around without her. Would he even remember who she was if she ever got around to telling him? She realized suddenly that she couldn't begrudge him that strange, dark look in his eyes - nor could she hate him for the way he so easily flirted with other girls. _A hundred years_ was enough to change any man. She just wondered what sort of man he had changed into ...

The Doctor seemed to take Rose's shocked expression for the normal human response to his extended lifespan and he smiled knowingly down at her as he announced, "I'm the Doctor, I'm an alien from outer space, I'm a thousand years old, I've got two hearts, and I've got a big blue box that's actually a spaceship that's bigger on the inside and can travel anywhere in space and time."

Rose screwed up her eyebrows at him in a frustrated look as she demanded, "Oh, is that it, then? Is that how you introduce yourself, now?"

He blinked in confusion for a moment before replying slowly, "Yes ... I suppose so ..."

"And you want to complain about me not asking the right questions, when you just go and play all of your cards at once like that?" she muttered with a sarcastic roll of her eyes.

That startled an amused chuckle out of him and Rose couldn't help but smile as she met his softly curious expression.

"Who _are_ you, Clara Oswald?" he asked with quiet interest.

The moniker sounded so wrong coming from his lips that Rose very nearly blurted out her true name right then and there, just in an attempt to correct him.

"What makes you think I'm anyone?" she asked evasively instead.

"Well, everyone's someone," the Doctor insisted, stepping forward and invading her personal space again as he looked down searchingly into her eyes. 

Rose found that she was frozen under his scrutinizing expression, entirely unable to look away or find another way to deflect his probing questions.

"I'm not," she finally whispered under her breath. "Not yet. Not here."

The Doctor's brows furrowed in quiet contemplation for a moment, and just as Rose was beginning to worry about how she would lie directly to the face of the man who she cared most about in all of creation, he stepped away from her again, turning back to face his TARDIS with a grand, sweeping gesture of his arms.

"So, what do you say?" he asked suddenly. "Anywhere. All of time and space, right inside those doors."

"What?" she asked, blinking up at him in surprise.

"Come on, Clara," he groaned. "We've been through all of the questions and answers already, you know them all! So? What'll it be?"

He pushed the TARDIS doors open with a self-satisfied smirk that she really wanted to wipe off of his smug old face.

"Are you serious?" she asked breathlessly instead, peering past his shoulder to glimpse the blue glow of the time rotor reflecting off of the shiny silver surfaces of the interior of his ship. The TARDIS looked just like she had when Rose had seen her at Christmas, and the pull that she felt in her chest was just as strong.

But a lifetime spent in another world with a man that she loved still wasn't enough to settle her doubts about this daft old alien, and Rose needed to be sure. She knew - her husband had told her - that the Doctor _never_ asked twice. But he had for her - over a century ago on that dark, dirty London street corner. He had come back for her and asked again. Her husband told her it was because he had already known that there was something special about her, right from the very start. She wondered if a hundred years was enough time for this man to change his mind about her.

"Come back tomorrow," Rose muttered, watching him with a speculative look. "Ask me again."

"Why?" the Doctor asked, his smile instantly disappearing as he stared down at her in confusion.

"Because tomorrow I might say yes," she answered teasingly. And it felt so wrong in this new body, but she knew how much he had enjoyed her old, tongue-touched smile, so she flashed it for him again, and was rewarded when his gaze zeroed-in on her mouth with an intensity that she had forgotten he possessed during their time apart. A thousand different things flashed behind his old green eyes in that moment, but Rose was really only able to focus on the way that his pupils noticeably dilated.

When she raised an eyebrow at him in silent question, the Doctor finally cleared his throat awkwardly and stepped away, grumbling under his breath the entire time.

"You know, it's three-o'-clock in the morning," he sighed wearily. "It's not really even worth it to get in the TARDIS and skip ahead to tomorrow. I might as well just wait here until dawn breaks."

"You could, if you wanted to," Rose replied with an unaffected shrug.

"Sorry?" the Doctor asked, confused.

"You could stay," Rose elaborated, nodding her head over her shoulder back in the direction of the darkened house behind her. She still didn't really know what "Clara's" living situation was like, but she was certain that the house was empty, and no one would likely return until tomorrow morning anyway.

"'Stay'?" the Doctor repeated, flashing her an oddly horrified look. "You know, I did try that once."

"Seriously?" Rose asked, not sure whether to be amused or irritated that the Doctor had somehow found it in him to take the dreaded slow-path with anyone other than herself.

"Wasn't really for me," he sniffed lightly. "Only managed to make it about an hour."

"Well, what do you say?" Rose prodded teasingly. "Think you can make three more?"

The Doctor's eyes narrowed once more as he seemed to quietly debate the pros and cons of having to stay the night in a human house. Finally, his shoulders sagged and he gave a long-suffering sigh. "Fine. Alright, then," he groaned dramatically. "But it's only so that I can keep an eye on you. And I'll have you know that I'll be expecting breakfast in the morning!"

"Okay," Rose agreed easily, giving him a considering look. "Maybe I'll make you one of my world-famous soufflés."

The Doctor's eyes widened to comical proportions, but Rose turned her back on him so that he wouldn't be able to see her gleeful smile. She knew that she shouldn't be enjoying this as much as she was, but _for once_ she knew more than he did - and the experience was exhilarating to say the least.

\--------------------

Rose's first night back in her home universe was strange. She didn't realize until she stepped into the small bathroom in the hallway near her bedroom (well, the room that she had inadvertently claimed, anyway) how very _odd_ the whole situation was.

Who _was_ Clara Oswin Oswald? She appeared to have her own books and a job and a toothbrush and a laptop, and even though the last one was oddly empty for someone who was supposedly in her mid-twenties and would have surely used it before, it was fairly clear that she was indeed a real, human person with a life all her own.

Rose felt like an intruder in her own skin as she leaned over the bathroom sink and peered at her new reflection in the oval mirror hanging on the wall. Her dark brown eyes narrowed as she slowly inspected every single detail of her new form.

_Who am I?_ she thought quietly to herself.

She wasn't exactly expecting an answer, but one came anyway in a sudden flash of golden light behind her eyelids. _You are yourself,_ the Bad Wolf replied simply.

_Yeah, but who is this Clara person?_ Rose insisted, not even bothering to ask why or how the Bad Wolf was speaking to her now. She had too many other pressing questions weighing in on her mind at the moment. She furrowed her brows at her reflection and focused all of her thoughts on the strange, ephemeral voice echoing inside of her head.

_Did I just steal someone else's identity?_ she asked curiously. _Or is the_ real _Clara still out there somewhere, wandering around? Or ... wait, hold on ... Is she dead? Am I walking around in a_ dead girl's _body?_

_There is no Clara Oswin Oswald,_ the Bad Wolf replied evenly, refusing to rise to Rose's suddenly panicked thoughts. _She is no one - an invention of the Bad Wolf. I have placed fabricated memories of her in the minds of those surrounding this household so that you could have a seamless transition into this world. Clara Oswin Oswald is_ you.

_No, but ... I'm Rose._

_Yes._

_Well, you can't be two people at once, that's just ridiculous ..._

_I exist across all of time and space,_ the Bad Wolf explained in her typical flat monotone. _There are many realities, many lives, many names. You're simply more._

_'More'?_

_More than Rose, more than Clara, more than human._

_Yeah, you're going to need to explain that one to me a bit._

_In time, dear one. I will speak with you again at the Rings of Akhaten._

_The rings of what?_ Rose thought, but there was another flash of golden light and she knew that her time for finding answers had come to a close.

Rose sighed wearily as she gave her strange new reflection one last hard glare before forcing herself into the strange new bed that she supposed she might as well start calling her own.

\--------------------

Rose wasn't quite sure what she had been expecting to find the next morning - maybe a half-way remodeled kitchen or a fancy new gadget in the garage or a fully-furnished bigger-on-the-inside shed out back. What she most certainly _hadn't_ been expecting was to wake up to complete and utter silence as early morning sunlight drifted lazily over her bed.

She stretched her sleepy muscles as she slowly regained consciousness and moaned happily at the sensation of her new, lithe young body. She still wasn't quite used to the way that she felt in this new skin.

"Oh, good, you're up."

The sudden male voice made Rose start with a gasp and she grabbed her blankets defensively as she whipped her head towards her open bedroom doorway. A tall man with wide shoulders, floppy hair, and a bowtie was leaning casually against the doorframe and watching her with an oddly hooded expression. It took Rose a minute to remember who he was - but she wasn't sure if that was because of her own exhausted mind, or the fact that she wasn't quite used to _his_ new skin, either.

"Doctor!" she gasped in surprise. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Spent the night, remember?" he replied, throwing a casual thumb over his shoulder as if that were explanation enough for how he had spent the last three or four hours.

But Rose had spent almost seventy years - nearly a whole _lifetime_ \- being married to the Doctor, and even if he wasn't this man exactly and he had a whole host of different expressions and mannerisms, she liked to think that she was pretty good at reading him. And the current guarded expression on the Doctor's face told a very different story from what he was telling her with his words.

"Did you, though?" she asked suspiciously.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed to match her own and he pushed himself off of the doorway to stand to his full height before admitting, "Fine. No, I lied. I didn't stay. I thought, 'hey, since we're going out on an adventure tomorrow, might as well get to know my new companion', right? So I Googled you."

"You ... '_Googled_' me?" Rose repeated in complete disbelief.

"Yes, well, I _tried_ to," the Doctor went on, beginning to pace within the doorway now and flinging his hands about wildly. "But there wasn't much to find. Actually, there wasn't _anything_ to find. So I thought, 'hmm, that's odd. Best look into that', so I popped back a few years to search for birth records, graduations, parents, family, friends, _anything_, and you know what I found?"

"No ...?" Rose answered slowly, already fearing what his answer might be. The Bad Wolf had said that Clara Oswin Oswald was a construct - an alibi created in this world for her to fill. She knew that no lie or story that she could make up would ever be good enough to fool the Doctor - he had clearly spent the last few hours doing his research.

"Nothing," the Doctor answered, halting his frantic movements and coming to a stop right over Rose's bed. He was smiling down at her, but the expression wasn't a nice one. Rose had seen the Oncoming Storm many times in her life, but never had she seen it directed at _her_. "No birth, no death, no relationships, not so much as a single fingerprint. You're no one, Clara Oswald."

Silence fell between them, then, and Rose knew that he was waiting for her to contradict him or try and fabricate some sort of lie to cover her tracks, but she refused. She considered, very briefly, telling him the truth, but the words were clinging to the inside of her throat and refused to come out.

So finally, she did what she had seen the Doctor do so many times that she had lost count over the years - she evaded the question.

"Everyone's someone," she muttered, watching him carefully as she repeated the words that he had spoken to her just a few hours ago.

The Doctor laughed, but there was no real humor behind it, and the poisonous look in his green eyes didn't fade in the slightest.

"Why did you do it, though?" Rose asked curiously, tilting her head at him in question.

"Do what?" the Doctor asked, his tone like ice.

"Why did you ... _Google_ me?" She tossed him a flirtatious grin and was pleased to see that the hard look in his eyes softened just the slightest bit before he finally turned and began his casual fidgeting once more.

"Well, it's like I said - if we're going to travel together, I have to know what kind of person I'm bringing along with me," he explained easily.

"Yeah, except, you don't do that," Rose reminded him pointedly.

"And how do _you_ know what I do and don't do?" the Doctor asked, flashing her another suspicious look as he began poking and prodding at the small, meaningless things around Rose's borrowed room.

"You couldn't even force yourself to lay down on the sofa for a three-hour kip," Rose explained with an offhanded shrug. "You also haven't stopped moving for more than two seconds ever since you first barged through my front door yesterday. For a thousand-year-old alien, your attention span is pretty spotty. Why would a man like that who has all of time and space at his disposal go and look up one single, human girl? There _is_ such a thing as being too keen, you know."

The Doctor made a disgruntled noise and then stuttered awkwardly for a moment as he fidgeted in place at the edge of her room and glared at her indignantly. "Oh ... shut up," he finally growled, though there was no real venom behind his words this time.

Rose grinned brightly as he turned his back on her, but not in time to hide his suddenly pink cheeks. She was amazed at how these new bodies gave their flirtatious banter a whole new perspective. It seemed that her new form was witty, challenging, and just as fond of words as her husband had been, while his new persona was awkward, mercurial, and quick to blush.

She could hear the Doctor's boots on the stairs making far more noise than he needed to - like a young boy pouting after he'd been told off. He called back petulantly, "Don't think I've forgotten that I was promised breakfast!"

And oh, she had _missed this_.


	6. Chapter Six

Of course, the soufflés never actually ended up happening - the Doctor was far too eager to get moving and Rose rolled her eyes at his back as she mused over the fact that some things certainly never changed. It was one of the reasons that it had taken her and her husband so long to perfect their own soufflé recipe - the Doctor was easily distracted and as impatient as a four-year-old, so baking delicate confections had never been an easy task when he was around.

She had just barely finished brewing her first cup of coffee before the Doctor was racing back to the TARDIS without even bothering to look over his shoulder to see if she was following. "Hurry up and get dressed!" he called back to her eagerly. "There's something I still haven't shown you yet!"

Rose was surprised when she surveyed Clara's closet to find that it was filled to overflowing with a variety of dresses and skirts. In her old life, she had preferred dressing in comfortable denim and shoes that were easy to run in. It had seemed practical, and she liked the way that the jeans hugged her curves and showed off her figure.

But she was even more surprised to find that she actually _preferred_ the skirts, now. She liked the way that the wool tights clung to her like a second skin and made her legs look skinny and feminine beneath a gauzy, flowing skirt. Rose found that she finally understood why the Doctor always went through his costume changes with each new regeneration. The new look just _felt_ right.

As soon as she was ready, Rose followed the Doctor out to the TARDIS and did the whole wide-eyed, "it's bigger on the inside!" song and dance for him because she knew how much he secretly enjoyed it. She also quietly hoped that her fake shock would help dissipate some of his lingering suspicions about her. She figured that if she played the part of the typical, human companion, then perhaps he would stop trying so hard to figure her out.

He was dancing around the TARDIS console with his usual enthusiasm when he suddenly clapped his hands loudly and whirled to face her once more. "So, where do you want to go, eh?" he asked tantalizingly. "What do you want to see?"

Rose ducked her head and smoothed her fingers over the new but oh-so-familiar TARDIS controls in an attempt to hide the wide smile that she couldn't quite manage to keep off of her face. It had been a lifetime since she had had all of time and space at her disposal. When she and her husband had been trapped in their parallel world, they had kept some of the Doctor's TARDIS coral with them, but it hadn't been able to grow into anything of any use. Their new home was simply too different from the TARDIS's original universe. It seemed that no amount of petrol in a diesel engine would ever get it to run properly.

As Rose caught the Doctor's gleeful smile out of the corner of her eye she was reminded of that first time he had asked her this question ...

_"Right, then, Rose Tyler, you tell me - where do you want to go? Backwards or forwards in time? It's your choice, what's it going to be?"_

_"You think you're so impressive,"_ she had teased.

Well, it looked like that hadn't changed, either.

"What would I like to see?" Rose repeated, tossing him a challenging smirk. "Well, something awesome, of course."

The Doctor's grin only grew as he snapped his fingers at her and then began his manic dance around the console controls. Rose noticed idly that his driving skills hadn't exactly improved in over a century of time, but the landing, at least, was a little less shaky than normal.

The Doctor threw on the hand brake and then came to stand before her, his green eyes positively sparkling as he leaned in close and whispered, "Close your eyes."

"What? Why?" Rose asked, startled into defensiveness as she carefully tried to gauge his expression.

"You'll see in a moment, now close your eyes," the Doctor insisted eagerly, shifting his weight impatiently between his two feet as he looked down at her.

When she did nothing but flash him another doubtful look, he took another half-step closer and whispered, "Please. Just trust me."

And Rose knew that this man was not the Doctor that she knew - and he certainly wasn't her husband - but in all of time and space, there was no one who she had ever trusted more, so she did as he asked and closed her eyes.

She felt his large hands on her shoulders, leading her out the TARDIS doors and onto unknown soil as she blindly followed his direction. The air smelled different, and Rose instantly knew that he had taken her somewhere far away from Earth. There was a permeating, peaceful quiet all around that was an unusual change from their normal adventures, though.

"Can you feel the light on your eyelids?" he asked quietly, continuing to move her slowly forward.

Rose hummed in assent, secretly thrilling at the way that she could feel his solid, comforting presence so close at her back. She still desperately missed her husband, but it was no secret that she had always loved the Doctor. It seemed that a hundred years of time and space and parallel worlds hadn't been enough to change that particular truth.

"That is the light of an alien sun," the Doctor explained, continuing on completely oblivious to her silent thoughts. "Forward a couple of steps," he instructed, and then he leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Okay, are you ready?"

And if the breathless smile breaking over her features had absolutely nothing to do with an alien sun and everything to do with the alien man standing just beside her, Rose figured that what the Doctor didn't know wouldn't hurt him.

"Yes," she breathed quietly, and when the Doctor made no further response, she slowly blinked open her eyes to gaze upon the sight before them.

Had seventy years really been all that it took for her to forget how amazingly beautiful the universe was? Rose had loved her perfectly normal life with her husband in that parallel world, but in all that time, it seemed that she had somehow managed to reduce the memory of how dazzling a life with the Doctor could be.

"Welcome to the rings of Akhaten," the Doctor stated dramatically, looking between the constellation of asteroids dancing around in the sun's glow and Rose's look of wide-eyed wonder with an expression of pure, childish glee.

Rose immediately recognized the name from the Bad Wolf, but she didn't let on as she continued to stare out at the vastness of the alien star system before her with barely-constrained awe.

"Can we see it?" she asked after she had patiently allowed him to give his usual Doctor-lecture on the system's history and culture. She found that she was almost afraid to hope that she really could just jump back into her old life of traveling the stars so easily. What had she ever done to deserve such a gift, such a second chance - and with the man who she loved most in all of time and space to go along with it?

The Doctor gave her a sly smile that she felt all the way down to her toes as he offered her his hand without another word. Rose almost expected him to shout, "Run!" before they dashed back into that amazing blue box of his, but he simply continued to smile knowingly as she fit her hand into his and he led her back the way they had come.

Rose marveled at the way that - even though they were two completely different people - their hands still fit together as easily as they always had. It seemed that no matter the time, no matter the place, Rose Tyler and the Doctor were simply _made_ for each other. She wondered if he could feel the same sensation of satisfied _completion_ that she did as they ran back into the TARDIS and prepared for their newest adventure.

\--------------------

Rose began to suspect that maybe the Doctor was catching on to her when they finally touched down in the alien bazaar and began wandering around the various strange species and their wares. It was all so similar to their first trip to Platform One that she began to wonder if he did the exact same series of adventures with all of his companions, or if he was simply somehow subconsciously replaying their old times together. Neither thought brought her much comfort.

The Doctor made no comment of the similarities, though, so Rose couldn't be sure what his true intentions were as he showed her around the overflowing booths and pointed out the various species, cultures, and food that he liked the best. Rose didn't have to fake her wide-eyed interest as he led her around the busy streets, and her heart softened every time she caught the Doctor watching her out of the corner of her eye. It was clear that he needed this as much as she did, and Rose wondered (not for the first time) what he had been through in the past century to make him so sad and alone.

His off-handed mention of his granddaughter only managed to heighten her concern as Rose quietly studied him. Her husband had told her stories of Susan as well as all the rest of his family that he had left behind on Gallifrey. She knew the depth of importance of his favorite granddaughter and the fact that he was bringing up those old memories now concerned her greatly.

Before she could ask him about it further, though, the Doctor was shoving a basket of glowing blue fruits into her hand and encouraging her to try one. However, Rose could remember trying similar glowing fruits during her past journeys with the Doctor (though the ones she had tried had been purple rather than blue), and she recalled them to be watery with an odd metallic taste that lingered on her tongue for hours afterwards. She turned her nose up at the blue fruit on instinct, deciding not to take any chances. The Doctor made an offhanded, disappointed sound as he returned the basket to where he had found it.

"Think they've got chips anywhere around here?" Rose asked suddenly, deciding to test his memory of that trip from long ago, which she still fondly referred to as their "first date".

"'_Chips_'?" the Doctor asked incredulously. He said it like it was a bad word, but he was turned away from her once more and wouldn't meet her eye. "Why would you want something like that when you've got local homemade cuisine all around you? Look! There's hodir from the Krisini System - piping hot, right here under your nose, but what does she ask for? _Chips._ Honestly, you humans ..."

Well, it was better than "_apes_", she supposed. At least he had grown out of that condescending moniker.

"You could have just said 'no'," Rose grumbled in irritation anyway. But she realized as she considered the surrounding booths that she didn't actually fancy chips, anyway. It seemed that this body was more suited to sweet things rather than savory.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to a pile of what looked like fresh baked pastries.

"Er, those are melashi buns," the Doctor muttered, pointing his sonic at them for a quick scan before adding, "They'd kill you, stone dead in five minutes flat. Best not. Ooh! Here, try these!"

He shoved what looked like a bright green whipped pudding cup into her hand, turned back to the booth, and then returned to stab a little plastic spoon into it.

But Rose had lost all interest in alien confections as she openly stared at the device that the Doctor was still fiddling with in his hands. He caught her looking and displayed the instrument with a proud, cocky grin. "Sonic screwdriver," he explained simply.

"It's ... green," Rose muttered awkwardly. And that wasn't the only new thing about it, either - but she decided to stick with the obvious in an attempt to not let on that she knew exactly what a sonic screwdriver was.

She supposed that it shouldn't have been so shocking that he would go and get a whole new casing - especially when he had already gone and changed both his TARDIS and his face as well - but it still struck her as odd in a way that made her uncomfortable. When she thought of the Doctor, she thought of his sonic screwdriver - he was never without it. But it seemed that even that had changed in the past one hundred years that she had missed with him.

"Yes, it's green. Of course it's green," the Doctor replied, his tone taking on a certain amount of defensiveness. "Green is cool. Why? Do you not like green?"

"No, green is ... green is fine," Rose replied haltingly, staring hard at the alien delicacy in her hands and not daring to meet his eye. "I just ... always liked blue."


	7. Chapter Seven

"So, what's everyone doing here?" Rose asked, tugging on the Doctor's elbow so that she wouldn't be separated from him and also to remind him that he couldn't simply turn and run off whenever something shiny caught his eye.

"They're here for the Festival of Offerings!" he announced grandly, smiling back at her. "Takes place every thousand years or so when the rings align. It's quite a big thing, locally - like, er ... Pancake Tuesday!"

Just then, one of the aliens in the booth they were passing by grabbed Rose's arm and forced her to a stop. She whirled to find a woman (at least, she _thought_ it might be a woman) with an oddly dog-like face and menacing teeth staring down at her.

"Looking for a bauble, Miss?" the strange woman asked loudly. "We've got the finest wares in the whole System, right here! You'd look amazing in Reluvian Gold. What do you say, Sir? A fine necklace for the missus? Or earrings! We've got earrings!"

"Thanks, we'll have a look around," the Doctor replied politely, but Rose noticed that he brushed the alien's demanding grip off of her arm with enough force and authority to warn her that she should keep her hands to herself from now on.

"Do all of these aliens speak English?" Rose asked mildly, knowing that she would have to replay this old conversation as well, so as not to raise suspicion.

"Ah, that's the TARDIS!" the Doctor explained, just as excitedly as he had the first time around. "There's a telepathic field that she can project into your mind to translate spoken and written languages. Comes in handy quite a lot. You can understand them, and they can understand you!"

Rose fought the instinct to roll her eyes at him as she began to peruse the booth's wares. It seemed that he still didn't quite grasp why some humans might have an issue with his strange blue box getting inside of their heads. But Rose and the TARDIS had been through so many things together by now, she found that she couldn't really bring herself to be as angry as she had been the first time he had explained his ship's telepathic abilities.

"So, what do you say? Anything catch your eye?" the Doctor went on casually, watching Rose carefully as she inspected the glittering alien jewelry before them.

"I don't have any money," Rose reminded him, flashing him a pointed look over her shoulder as she leaned closer to poke at a long chain that looked to be made of gold. She knew that the Doctor didn't normally travel with currency - and she doubted that a century of time without her would have been enough to change that particular habit.

"Neither do I," the Doctor replied predictably, "but they don't use money, here. They trade in value. The more sentimental something is, the more value it has. A photograph, a love letter, something like that. It's called psychometry - the objects psychically imprinted with their history."

"That's ... different," Rose admitted, scrunching up her nose as she continued to casually shop through the alien woman's wares. How did someone rate _value_? It seemed a bit subjective to her.

"Better than using bits of paper," the Doctor countered stubbornly.

"Fine, then you pay," Rose challenged, flashing him a teasing look. "You're a thousand years old. You must have something you care about." No, he never traveled with money, but she knew for a fact that he _did_ have bigger-on-the-inside pockets that were filled with various bits and pieces of varying value.

But the Doctor simply shrugged noncommittally and turned away from her without a response, a strange cloud darkening his green eyes.

"Talk about a cheap date," Rose teased, smiling at him in an attempt to lighten his mood.

"Oi!" he protested indignantly. The Doctor whirled around to glare at her, but at least the forlorn look had left his expression. "It's ... not a _date_," he grumbled under his breath as he turned to scowl at a row of bracelets that were studded with some sort of pink-colored gem.

"Alright, then, what can I use?" Rose asked, looking down at herself and trying to think of what she might have that would hold any sort of value. This was a new world, a new body, and new clothes - none of it held much meaning to her.

"What about your ring?" the Doctor asked mildly, not even turning to look at her.

"My what?"

"Your ring," he repeated, turning to nod pointedly at her left hand before turning his back on her once more.

Rose furrowed her brow as she glanced down at her left hand in confusion and noted for the first time that there was a thin, brass-colored ring around her third finger.

"But that's ..." she murmured breathlessly.

It wasn't her wedding ring - that had been handmade by her husband, and she knew for a fact that there wasn't another single ring like it in any number of parallel worlds. But it followed the same general shape that she had grown so accustomed to wearing over the past seventy-or-so years of marriage. It was thin around the bottom and widened towards the top, a single, open circle sitting where she was used to seeing a delicate rose-colored gem.

"That's got plenty of value," the Doctor continued with his back to her, his tone as unaffected as though he were simply discussing the weather. "You could buy this entire booth with that ring alone."

"No, that's ... I'm fine," Rose stuttered, trying to force words out through the sudden lump in her throat. "I don't really want anything anyway. It's fine. Let's go."

The Doctor flashed her an assessing look out of the corner of his eye, but then simply shrugged and led them off further into the alien bazaar. "Are you married, then, Clara Oswald?" he asked casually, his hands tucked primly behind his back as he quietly matched his pace to hers.

"I used to be," Rose replied quietly, staring down hard at her hand as she slowly twisted the ring around her finger. How had she not noticed it before? And how long had the Doctor known that it was there? Knowing him, he had probably seen it from the moment he first laid eyes on her.

"Bit young to be a widow, aren't you?" he asked curiously, and Rose wasn't even surprised that he had so accurately gauged the situation.

"Says the thousand-year-old alien with the baby face," she murmured sarcastically, flashing him a sardonic look out of the corner of her eye.

The Doctor chuckled good-naturedly, but Rose knew that he wasn't done questioning her - not by a long shot. "It's also a bit rude to assume a woman's age like that, Doctor," she continued, pretending to scold him. "And, just so you know, it's human custom to offer _condolences_ in a situation like this."

"Oh, right ..." he murmured awkwardly. "Sorry."

Rose flashed him a forgiving smile and was prepared to let the topic of conversation drop when the Doctor suddenly asked, "How did he die?"

And Rose knew that she shouldn't tell him the truth - this conversation was dangerous enough already. After all, this man who she was talking to now was deeply connected to her husband in a way that was confusing and terrifying all at once. She knew that she shouldn't have even let on that she was married in the first place - the Doctor was right, her new, mid-twenties body would raise questions if she went around like the grieving widow that she was. But how was she supposed to know that the Bad Wolf would somehow make her a parallel approximation of her wedding ring without telling her?

Still, the temptation to blurt out the truth was too great to be ignored. She knew that it was selfish, but Rose had no one else who she could talk to about her husband, and she still missed him so terribly that it took her breath away sometimes. The man before her may be wearing a different face, but in some ways, he was the only other person in this world who even knew who her husband was.

"His heart gave out," she muttered, not daring to meet the Doctor's eye as she spoke. "About a year-and-a-half ago."

And for once, the Doctor surprised her by letting the conversation end there. Rose knew that he had more questions - how could he not? But he kept them politely to himself as he nodded solemnly and repeated his quiet condolences.

Rose, however, knew that she was never going to get a better chance than this, so she asked, "What about you, Doctor? You're a thousand years old, why are you wandering out here alone? Don't you have other friends or ... anyone else?" She didn't dare bring up Susan again, and certainly not Gallifrey, but Rose hoped that maybe he would deflect the question and at least tell her about his most recent companions. He had had friends in the dalek asylum, and the fact that he had still not brought them up concerned her greatly.

"Friends? Yes, of course I have friends!" the Doctor replied, his loud exuberance returning once more, along with his nervous fidgeting. "I've got loads of friends - all in different time periods across the galaxy. You can't do as much traveling as I do without making friends."

_And enemies,_ Rose thought silently to herself. Out loud, she asked, "Well ... where are they, then? Why aren't they here with you?" And she knew that it hurt him to remember, but she just had to _know_ what had put that deep, heavy sadness on his shoulders.

The Doctor only paused for a moment, but it was all that Rose needed to see that his hurt ran even deeper than she could have imagined. Finally, he threw his hands in the air and exclaimed, "Nah, they've got better things to do! They're all off living their lives, having babies and anniversaries and building debt - all that boring, normal stuff. They don't need me. Besides - I've got all of time and space to see! Can't forget that. There's so much that needs doing - worlds to save, people to meet, food to try."

The Doctor punctuated his chattering words by dipping his finger into the green whipped thing that was still slowly melting in Rose's hands and then brought it to his mouth with a gleeful grin.

"See?" he insisted eagerly. "Can't get that back on Earth, now, can you?"

Rose took a moment to watch him before replying. She wanted so badly to tell him the full truth of who she was, but she still didn't quite know how to explain this strange situation that they now found themselves in. She knew that as long as she decided to keep this secret, she would have to be subtle in order to keep him from getting suspicious, but she couldn't have stopped the words that came next even if she wanted to. She knew that he needed them now as much as he had back when he had first met her, and she wasn't about to let the Doctor go on in misery if there was anything that she could do to stop it.

"It's better with two," she muttered quietly. "Wouldn't you say, Doctor?"

Her words stopped him in his tracks and the Doctor turned to stare at her in unrestrained shock for a moment. She could practically see his brain working behind those new, bright green eyes of his. He was looking at her as though he had seen a ghost, and he wasn't quite sure if he could believe the proof of his own two eyes.

Rose threw caution to the wind as she stepped forward and firmly took his hand in hers. She watched as all of the air whooshed out of his lungs as though she had firmly and solidly hit him right in the gut.

"Right ..." he murmured slowly, continuing to stare down at her with a complicated expression. "Quite right." And Rose was pleasantly surprised when he offered her a kind smile instead of more suspicion.

"This way!" he said, suddenly tugging on her hand and jolting her immediately back into the adventure that he had planned. "There's this Hilomian soothsayer that you simply _have_ to meet. Oh, I hope he's still here. The last time we met, he told me ..."

And just like that, he was back to his over-ecstatic Doctor-teaching-mode and he went about leading her off to see the many wonders of the universe. Rose grinned like a fool as she followed after him, hoping beyond hope that maybe this time the universe would be kind, and she wouldn't have to be torn from his side again.


	8. Chapter Eight

But no trip with the Doctor (however seemingly-innocent it may be) ever really went according to plan, did it? Rose realized that she had forgotten, during the decades spent living her normal, human life - she had forgotten the lives that were sometimes lost in the disasters that the Doctor jumped into. She wondered if he was ever truly able to make himself forget the many names and faces that were lost while he fought so hard to put the universe back in order. She wondered if he ever went back and counted them.

Rose had been beside herself when she had been forced to sit back and watch as Merry Gejelh, the Queen of Years, had been carried away screaming - but the Doctor had quickly taken on a familiar look of determination, so Rose followed him without question as he immediately started carrying out a plan for her rescue.

"I need something precious!" the Doctor cried out as he ran up to a stand in the bazaar that seemed to be renting some sort of alien mopeds.

"Well, you must have something!" Rose called back, gesturing lamely to his coat pockets and barely biting back the urge to dig into his bigger-on-the-inside pockets herself. "All the places you've seen, there must be something!"

"This," the Doctor admitted, sheepishly waving his new sonic screwdriver between them before returning it to his breast pocket once more, "and I don't want to give it away, because it comes in handy."

Rose gritted her teeth in silence for a moment as she stared deep into his eyes, desperately trying to puzzle out a better option. The Doctor simply stared back at her, his nervous energy making her feel as fidgety as he was. She knew that he was testing her, waiting for her to come to the same conclusion that he had already made before he had even turned to ask her.

Finally, without breaking eye contact with him, Rose bit the inside of her cheek and wrenched the thin, brass-colored ring from her third finger. She shoved it into the Doctor's hand without a word and turned away before she could convince herself otherwise.

_It's not even real,_ she silently scolded herself. _It's just a fake - a stupid, useless imitation._ But no amount of assurances could ease the deep, bitter sensation of loss that Rose could feel deep in her gut as she crossed her arms tight over her chest and determinedly stared at her own boots. She felt as though she were somehow betraying her husband by throwing away the last memento of his that she had left. She hated the Doctor for asking her to do it, and she hated herself even more for going along with it.

She could see the Doctor out of the corner of her eye slowly twisting the small ring about in his fingers before he finally stepped forward and handed it to the female alien renting out mopeds. The two of them didn't speak again until they got to the pyramid and they fell back into their usual routine of teamwork in an attempt to save the young, innocent Merry Gejelh.

However, neither of them had quite been prepared for that rescue to include facing off against a giant, soul-eating sun.

"You're going to fight it, aren't you?" Rose asked as she stood at the Doctor's side and squared off against the impending alien threat before them.

"Regrettably, yes. I think I may be about to do that," he murmured sardonically.

"It's really big," she commented idly.

"I've seen bigger."

"Really?" she asked, finally breaking her gaze away from the deadly sun and whirling to look at him with a doubtful expression.

"Are you joking? It's massive!" he hissed, turning to meet her eye as well.

"I'm staying with you," she informed him simply.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am. I can ... assist," she insisted stubbornly.

"No you can't!"

"I'm not leaving you, Doctor." Rose locked her jaw as she stared up at him, but his expression was completely unwavering - just as it always was when he was determined to play the martyr.

"Listen, you've got something precious, there," he murmured, his tone low and serious as he glanced sideways at Merry. "And when you're holding onto something precious, you run - always, always run."

He was looking deep into her eyes now and Rose felt as though her knees might buckle with the sheer weight of emotion that she could see lurking behind his green gaze. "You run and run as fast as you can and you don't stop running until you're out from under the shadow. Now," the Doctor paused to flash Merry a small, encouraging smile as he continued, "off you pop. Take the moped. I'll walk."

He turned away without a backwards glance and the familiar routine of their adventures quickly came rushing back to Rose, reminding her that there was always an order to things. Make sure that the civilians were safe, first - save as many as you could - and then go back and save the Doctor.

"Isn't he frightened?" Merry asked nervously as Rose set her back down in the amphitheater a safe distance away form the glowing golden pyramid.

"I think he is," Rose admitted, already preparing the moped so that she could retrace her steps and get back to him. "I think he's very frightened."

"I want to help," the young girl insisted.

"So do I," Rose agreed, giving her an encouraging nod before punching the accelerator on her borrowed vehicle and racing back to the Doctor's side.

She found him hunched over before the massive sun, his limbs shaking weakly and his head hung in defeat. The image sent a shock of pain straight to Rose's heart, but before she could move any closer to comfort him or assess his injuries, she blinked and a familiar flash of gold caught and drew her attention away.

The Bad Wolf appeared this time as nothing more than a humanoid shape with long, glowing hair and bright golden eyes. She stood over the Doctor like a sentinel, keeping herself between him and the imminent threat before him, but her eyes were trained on Rose.

_"He has sacrificed his own memories to sate the hunger of the beast,"_ the otherworldly creature informed her. _"But it is still not enough."_

"What do we do?" Rose asked breathlessly, glancing in terror between the glowing woman and the ravenous star.

_"The only thing that will satisfy that being's hunger is the infinity of time,"_ the Bad Wolf explained simply. _"I am the sun and the moon, the day and the night. I can out-burn the monster."_

"So do it, then!" Rose demanded impatiently.

The Bad Wolf didn't say another word, she simply raised her hand towards Rose, silently beckoning her forward. Rose felt ice cold fear clutching at her heart, but the Doctor was still bent down in the dirt at her feet and she couldn't turn down the offer to end all of this and save his life. Rose Tyler would always be there to protect her Doctor, no matter what the consequences.

The second that her fingertips touched the glowing gold light of the Wolf's, Rose gasped as the energy of time quickly flooded her veins. It wasn't the raw, unrestrained power of the time vortex this time - the energy was focused and had a dangerous intent. Rose could feel the Bad Wolf in her head as a separate entity, channeling through her as the soul-eating star greedily tried to drain the life out of her.

She was distantly aware of the Doctor shifting near her feet once more, but Rose shut her eyes tight as the eternal song of time rang through her head and forced herself to focus on feeding as much energy into the hungry alien sun as possible.

_Keep him safe,_ a feminine voice whispered as the golden light pulsed brighter and brighter. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, the Bad Wolf was gone as though she never was.

Rose gasped as she instantly returned to her own mind and her eyes snapped open to watch in fascination as the sun before her imploded in on itself until its light completely dissipated into darkness.

"What ... did you do ...?" The Doctor's weak voice drifted up to her and immediately demanded all of Rose's attention. She fell to her knees at his side and put her arms around him in an attempt to steady him.

"Are you alright?" she asked breathlessly.

"Right as rain," he murmured wearily. "Never better. A-okay, that's me." He turned to glance at her out of the corner of his eye as he asked again, "What just happened?"

"You did it," Rose lied, smiling as confidently as she could and squeezing his shoulders reassuringly. "Great big carnivorous sun - easy. The people of this star system won't have to worry about sacrificing innocent souls ever again."

"No, but ... you ... there was a light ..." he insisted haltingly, his brows screwing together in confusion as the Doctor stared at her with hazy, unfocused eyes.

"Yes, there was," Rose agreed quietly. "But now it's gone. All sorted, thanks to you, Doctor."

He was muttering more questions, but his words were slurred together so Rose wasn't quite able to catch them.

"How about we get you back to the TARDIS, eh?" she asked encouragingly, pulling at his arms in an attempt to get him to stand once more.

Rose was half-bent over him when he suddenly grabbed her left hand and pressed something small and warm against her palm. Once he released his hold on her, she slowly drew back her fingers to reveal the small, brass-colored ring that she had been certain that she would never see again. She gasped out loud in shock and couldn't even bring herself to feel the slightest bit of annoyance at the smug grin that the Doctor was leveling at her.

"But how did you ...?" she asked breathlessly.

"Nicked it after we got the moped," the Doctor replied matter-of-factly. He narrowed his eyes on her in a mildly indignant look as he added, "You didn't really think I'd ask you to give up your wedding ring, did you?"

It certainly wasn't outside of the realm of possibilities that Rose could imagine concerning the Doctor - he had never really been overly-sentimental about material objects, after all (even the sonic had been burned and left behind before in pursuit of bigger and better things). But she decided not to mention that fact as she rewarded him instead with a winning smile and thanked him profusely for thinking of her.

She slipped the ring quickly back onto her finger and helped the Doctor to his feet, where he wobbled unevenly for a few moments and stared out into the vacuum of space where the soul-eating sun had been just a few minutes ago. Finally, he turned his hard, assessing look back on her.

"Clara, that light ..." he murmured quietly.

"It was just the sun, Doctor," she lied again, making her face as flat and unreadable as possible. Rose could see his jaw tense as he narrowed his eyes on her in thought. "Why do you keep looking at me like that, Doctor?" she asked, already knowing full well, but wanting to see what information he was willing to reveal on his end before she opened her mouth and said something irreversibly foolish.

"I don't know," he replied slowly. "You remind me of someone."

"Who?"

"Someone who died."

That didn't really answer her question - Rose knew that the Doctor had been forced to watch many of his past companions come and go over the years. So the question was - which one was he referring to now? Was he talking about the Clara that the Bad Wolf had set on his path twice already? Or was he talking about _her_?

The Doctor was watching her intently as Rose looped her arm under his shoulders and let him lean his weight on her as they stumbled unsteadily back to the moped that she had driven to his rescue.

Finally, she murmured quietly under her breath, "Yeah, I think I know the feeling ..."

"Eh?" the Doctor asked, his focused interest dulled somewhat by his exhaustion.

"You remind me of someone, too," Rose admitted, smiling and glancing up at him quickly out of the corner of her eye. "Someone I lost a while ago."

The Doctor furrowed his brows at her as he asked again, "You're _sure_ we've never met before?"

Rose chuckled and patted his side reassuringly from where she kept her grip on him, making sure that he didn't stumble or sway too far away from her. "I don't know," she muttered teasingly, "maybe we did, once - in another life."


	9. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you've probably noticed, I'm skipping over certain series 7 adventures with this fic for the sake of time/plot. Sorry to anyone who really enjoys "Cold War", but it won't be making an appearance here.

"Is there an infirmary in this thing?" Rose asked, pretending not to already know as they finally returned to the safety of the TARDIS. She silently asked the sentient ship to bring said room to the fore as she guided the Doctor carefully down the steps into the console room.

"What? Yes, of course there is," the Doctor muttered distractedly as he clumsily tripped down the stairs at her side. "Of course there's an infirmary. There's also six squash courses, a delightful little room full of antique teapots, and an exact replica of the Louvre in 1892. Why do you ask?"

"Because you've just offered your mind up on a silver platter to a hungry, soul-eating star," Rose reminded him with a long-suffering roll of her eyes. "I think it's safe to say that you might need a quick check-up."

"Nah, don't be ridiculous," the Doctor sighed, finally leaning away from her and tottering unevenly to collapse with a grunt on one of flights of stairs surrounding the console room. "I'm fine, totally fine."

Rose knew better than to believe him, but she also knew better than to try and argue with him when he was insistent on maintaining his ridiculous Time Lord dignity.

"Fine," she agreed, heaving her own sigh as she bent to sit on the step beside him. "I'll just have to stay here, then, and make sure that you don't pass out or suddenly stop breathing or something."

"And how long are you going to do that for?" the Doctor asked, eyeing her wearily.

"As long as it takes," Rose replied with an easy shrug.

The Doctor rubbed his hand over his forehead and combed his hair back out of his eyes before he asked, "So does that mean that you're staying, then?"

Rose felt her heart leap into her throat as she hesitantly tried to gauge the Doctor's exhausted expression. He wasn't looking at her, but she knew that he was patiently hanging on her every reaction.

"If you'll have me," she finally replied, studying the haggard profile that he cut against the sleek backdrop of his new TARDIS desktop.

"What about your family?" he asked without pause, continuing to train his gaze away from her.

"What?"

"Your family," the Doctor repeated firmly. "You weren't living in that house alone - there were three other rooms filled with personal things. Won't they wonder where you've disappeared to?"

"Those people aren't my family," Rose stated simply.

"Who were they, then?"

And how could she possibly answer that? She hadn't even counted the rooms as he had - she had only seen the one teenage girl for a moment before she had disappeared to her friend's house.

"Don't worry about them," she finally replied, leaning her head against his shoulder in silent plea. _Please don't leave,_ she begged. _And please don't ask any more questions._ "They'll get on without me," she continued out loud, keeping her tone as casual as possible. "They all knew that I wasn't going to be staying for long. I won't be missed."

The Doctor and Rose sat in tense silence for a moment and she could practically feel the anxiety coiled tight within him. She knew that if he were feeling up to it, he would have been pacing around the console room and fiddling with something or other in an attempt to keep his hands busy and put some distance between them.

"Are you ... sure?" he finally asked, his voice smaller and more hesitant than she had heard it yet.

Rose swiveled her head on his shoulder to get a better look at the expression on his face, but he turned away from her and continued flippantly, "I mean, it's just that I haven't traveled with anyone in a while. I would need to make sure that the TARDIS has some guest rooms available."

"You just told me you have an entire nineteenth century French museum in here, Doctor," Rose reminded him teasingly. "I think I'll find somewhere to kip out."

The Doctor huffed a small laugh that Rose felt vibrate through her skin and warm her insides. "Ah, well. I suppose you're right," he finally agreed.

"Just ... how long have you been traveling alone, then?" Rose asked as casually as she could.

"Doesn't matter," he replied dismissively.

"That long, eh?" she surmised.

"Suppose so."

"Tell me about them," Rose suggested lightly.

"Who?"

"The people who travel with you," she elaborated.

The Doctor fell silent then, and Rose knew immediately that she had picked the wrong moment to ask. She wondered if the memories that the sun had consumed were gone forever, or if the Doctor had somehow managed to hold on to them. Did he even remember those who he had been forced to leave behind?

Rose wrapped her hands around the Doctor's arm and squeezed it reassuringly. "Another time, then," she murmured quietly. "If this box really can travel the way you say it can, then we've got a lot of it."

"Indeed," he sighed, finally allowing himself to lean into her in return and resting his head lightly against her own.

Rose wasn't sure how long they stayed there like that, but she knew that it wasn't nearly long enough. No time spent with the Doctor was ever enough. When it came to the two of them, sometimes it felt like even eternity was too short a time.

\--------------------

After that, the two of them fell quickly and easily back into their routine of traveling the stars and saving people. Rose wondered if it came this easily to anyone else, or if it was simply the fact that she and the Doctor worked so well together.

The Ice Warrior on the Soviet submarine had certainly been a surprise, though. There had been Ice Warriors in Rose's parallel world, but they had gone extinct centuries ago, so she had never run into one like _this_ before. The ancient Martian artifacts still cropped up in the Torchwood archives every now and then, though - and whenever they did, her husband would always tell her stories of the Warriors that he had fought and conquered in the past.

And hunting for ghosts in 1974 was terrifying, but exhilarating all the same. Rose had taken a liking to Professor Palmer and Emma Grayling almost immediately. They were kind, brave people who were easily intrigued by mystery, and they reminded her of all that was good and _right_ about humanity.

"So, what's ... an empathic psychic?" Rose asked curiously as she sat down with Emma while the Doctor busily rifled through Professor Palmer's findings.

"Sometimes I ... sense feelings, the way a telepath can sense thoughts," Emma replied slowly. "Sometimes, though - not always."

"The most compassionate people you'll ever meet, empathics," the Doctor interrupted, coming to stand near the two women so that he could show off his knowledge on the subject. "And the loneliest. I mean, exposing themselves to all those hidden feelings - all that guilt, pain, and sorrow, and ..."

"Well, _you_ certainly seem to know a lot about it," Rose interrupted. She cut him off for Emma's sake, but she wasn't about to miss the opportunity to tease him a bit. Besides, she figured that being married to a touch telepath for almost seventy years gave her a bit of knowledge on the subject.

"Yes, Doctor," Emma agreed quietly. "I believe that ... perhaps you can see as I do."

"Well, no ... not exactly," he replied, nervously straightening his bowtie. "All Time Lords are touch telepaths, but it ... works a bit different from the way you do it."

"But you still have the gift," Emma insisted as she leveled her gaze on him. "And yet you see far less than you think you do. I think you have bottled that part of yourself away - somewhere deep inside where no one will be able to find it, not even you. You're ... saving it for something. Or ... maybe some_one_."

Rose was about to step in and change the subject when Professor Palmer took the liberties for her. He led the Doctor to his drawing board where he had all of his notes and pictures on the Caliburn ghost laid out and the Doctor eagerly took the opportunity to leave the subject.

"So, what do you say?" he asked Rose a short time later, after they had been completely debriefed on the history of the house and the lore of the ghost. "Ready to go ghost hunting?" He kept his voice low and his head ducked close to hers as he spoke, making Rose feel as though it were just the two of them in this giant, haunted house.

"I'm not _afraid_, if that's what you're asking," Rose replied sardonically.

"No?" the Doctor asked, eyeing the dark shadows in the hallway outside with a look of trepidation. "Not even a little bit?"

"I've seen ghosts before, you know," she reminded him knowingly.

"Really?" he asked, his green eyes widening comically as he bent even closer towards her. "When? Where? Were they nice?"

Rose giggled despite herself and pushed playfully at his arm that wasn't holding a flaming candelabra. "Come on, the giant dalek/cyberman invasion from seven years ago?" she stated simply. "Seriously, who could have missed that?"

She pointedly didn't mention the Gelth in Cardiff, knowing that _that_ particular adventure would be too big of a hint into her true identity. Still, the memory of Canary Wharf wasn't exactly a pleasant one for either of them, and Rose felt her smile falter as the Doctor simply nodded and looked down at his boots in response.

"Right, of course," he muttered quietly. "Who could forget that?"

"This one seems different, though," Rose suggested helpfully, hoping to steer the topic of conversation to lighter waters. "Definitely not a cyberman. So ... what, then?"

The Doctor's smile returned as he pushed the candelabra into Rose's hand and then swept his arm out grandly towards the dark hallway beyond. "Well ... let's find out," he whispered gleefully.

\--------------------

Later on when Rose finally got Emma alone again, she couldn't help but attempt to dig a little deeper into the empath's mind. It wasn't every day that she met someone who could read people the way that the Doctor could, and she found herself eager to explore a second perspective.

"So ... you and Professor Palmer," Rose murmured suggestively as she handed the other woman a fresh, warm mug of tea. "Have you ever ... you know?"

"No," Emma huffed dismissively, staring down into her tea to hide her expression.

"Why not?" Rose demanded insistently. "You _do_ know how he feels about you, don't you? You, of all people?"

"I don't know," Emma sighed wearily. "People like me ... sometimes we get our signals mixed up. We think people are feeling the way we want them to feel. You know, when they're ... special to us. When really there's nothing there."

"Oh, this is there," Rose assured her knowingly.

"How do you know?" Emma asked, gazing up at Rose with unrestrained hope in her eyes.

"Because it's obvious!" Rose insisted, grabbing her own tea and coming to sit across from the other woman. "It sticks out like a ... big chin."

Emma let out another small huff of laughter as she shook her head at Rose in quiet disbelief. "What about you and the Doctor?" she asked curiously.

Rose opened her mouth to respond but hesitated for a moment, eyeing Emma's strange expression of intense concern. "Oh, I don't know. Why do you ask?" she finally replied.

"You shouldn't trust him," Emma warned her gently. "There's a sliver of ice in his heart."

Rose was startled into silence as she simply stared at Emma for a moment, her heart suddenly beating just a bit faster.

"But ... I already know that you won't listen," Emma continued, sighing and shaking her head once mroe.

"Oh? Why's that, then?" Rose asked curiously.

"Because you have a flame of fire in yours," the empath replied, her eyes meeting Rose's and seeming to look straight through her. "There's a light that burns at the heart of you. An eternal flame that will never die. I don't know, maybe you're right - maybe that will be enough to help him. But I fear for both of you if you're wrong."

And Rose had absolutely no idea how to respond to that, but she was saved from her conundrum when the Doctor himself suddenly came bustling in and announced that they would be taking a quick trip.

\--------------------

The Doctor reached the TARDIS ahead of Rose since he chose to run through the rain rather than wait for her to open her umbrella, and Rose rolled her eyes as he rudely let the doors slam in her face. She knew that there were times when he could be very considerate and chivalrous, but when his mind was racing twelve steps ahead of him, he tended to get a bit lost in the moment.

"So, where are we going?" she asked lightly as she opened the doors herself and followed him in.

"Nowhere, we're staying right here," he replied distractedly as he slid around the console and hastily set their destination. "Right here, on this exact spot, if I can work out how to do it."

"So ... _when_ are we going?" Rose elaborated as she stepped up to join him at the console.

Her teasing smile seemed to catch his attention and he began to chuckle in amusement as he easily mirrored her expression. "Oh, that is good," he murmured appraisingly. "That is top notch."

He moved to stand closer to her and Rose turned on habit to meet him, but he suddenly froze and narrowed his eyes back on the door that she had just come through.

"Hold on, wait a second, how did you do that?" he asked, pointing over her shoulder in the direction of the TARDIS doors.

"Do what?" Rose asked, glancing back quickly to see if there was something that she had missed.

"You opened the doors," the Doctor stated suspiciously.

"Yeah? So?"

"The TARDIS doors - _my_ TARDIS doors," the Doctor continued, leaning closer and leveling that suspicious look on her that Rose was really starting to dread. "You don't have a key, how did you do that?"

"I just ... opened them," Rose muttered truthfully, shrugging her shoulders.

"Hmm," the Doctor hummed consideringly, looking down his nose at her. "Seems the TARDIS has taken a liking to you, then. That's ... new."

"What, afraid you're not teacher's favorite anymore?" Rose teased him with a knowing smile.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her with an annoyed expression, but she heard the answering chuckle that he tried to keep under his breath as he turned away from her and returned to preparing them for departure.

"So?" Rose prompted him. "You didn't answer the question. _When_ are we going?"

"We're going always," the Doctor replied cryptically, flashing her an excited smile as he pulled the dematerialization lever.

He then proceeded to take them through the entire life cycle of the Earth - from birth to death. Rose tried not to let it get to her - she really did, but the whirlwind trip was a stark reminder of the power that the Doctor held and how cruel the passing of time could really be.

"Alright?" the Doctor asked wearily as they finally landed back in 1974. Rose had fallen silent ever since he had returned and changed out of his orange environment suit and back into his bowtie and coat. He had been watching her cautiously out of the corner of his eye the entire time.

"I just saw the entire lifespan of the earth in five minutes," Rose reminded him quietly.

"Yes," he agreed.

"It just ... reminded me of something."

"And what's that?" he asked curiously.

"That everything ends." Rose stared dejectedly down at the console controls as she said it, but after a moment of silence the Doctor moved to her side and her gaze was pulled up on instinct to meet his.

"Not everything," he muttered quietly, his voice a mere whisper, as though it were a secret. "Not love. Not always."

Rose stared up into the Doctor's deep green gaze in silent wonder as she struggled with what to say next. There was something just behind his eyes that hinted at recognition, but she couldn't tell if it was real or just wishful thinking on her part.

"Oh, Doctor," she sighed, flashing him a rueful smile as she continued to steadily meet his gaze. "What must we look like to you? I suppose everyone must seem like a ghost to someone who can travel the entirety of the universe in the blink of an eye."

"No, you're not ghosts," he replied evenly.

"No?" she asked, quietly prompting him for more.

"No," the Doctor answered simply. "You, Clara Oswald, are the only mystery worth solving."

The false name cut through Rose's heart just as it always did, but in the time it took for her to swallow past the sudden lump in her throat, the Doctor was already out the doors and running back through the rain towards the old, haunted house.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've sort of skipped around the "Hide" episode, so for those who don't remember - there's a point where Clara has to fly the TARDIS into a pocket universe without the Doctor's help. I've skipped over that scene in this story, but it's going to be mentioned in this chapter.

Rose had already said her regretful goodbyes to Professor Palmer and Emma when the Doctor suddenly received his next eye-opening revelation and they realized that their adventure with the Caliburn "ghost" wasn't quite finished yet.

"It's the oldest story in the universe - this one or any other," the Doctor explained cheerily as he turned and ran for the TARDIS once more. "Boy and girl fall in love, get separated by events - war, politics, accidents in time. She's thrown out of the hex, or he's thrown into it ..."

_Or they're trapped in two parallel worlds,_ Rose agreed silently, her smile strained as the Doctor casually threw his arm around her shoulders and continued gesturing wildly with his free hand.

"Since then, they've been yearning for each other across time and space, across dimensions! This isn't a ghost story, it's a ... _love_ story!"

Rose turned to glance at him out of the corner of her eye, but as soon as her gaze met his, the Doctor's arm flew off of her shoulder as though she had physically shocked him. His happy smile disappeared as well as he awkwardly fidgeted with his now-empty hands. "Sorry," he finally muttered, wheeling about in the direction of the TARDIS once more.

"It's alright," Rose replied lightly as she eagerly followed after him. "It was a nice story. It actually ... sounded a bit familiar, if I'm being honest ..."

"Oh?" the Doctor asked distractedly over his shoulder as he swung open the doors to his ship.

"Yeah," she agreed as she followed him in. "And I think ... maybe there's a reason you tell it so well, too."

"Personally, I'd rather hear _your_ story," the Doctor replied, still not facing her as he began flipping levers on the console and preparing to send them back into the pocket universe to rescue the monster that they had unknowingly abandoned there.

"My story?" Rose repeated dubiously.

"Yes," the Doctor answered, his head bending over the controls as though he were concentrating especially hard on them. "For instance, I'd like to know how a perfectly normal human girl managed to fly a TARDIS into a pocket universe and back without putting a single scratch in the exterior paint."

Rose licked her lips nervously and cast her eyes to the time rotor, as though the sentient ship might somehow help her come up with a plausible lie for him. Honestly, she wasn't quite sure how she had done it, either - she just knew that the Doctor was in trouble and that she had had to rescue him. She had run to the TARDIS and let the ship guide her through all the rest. It had actually been extremely simple - she had barely had to think about what she was doing before she simply ... _did_ it.

"The TARDIS helped me," she explained with a simple shrug. "I think she knew that you were in trouble."

"So you communicated with her," the Doctor replied, his tone insinuating that this was a statement and not a question.

"Yeah ..." Rose muttered slowly, casting around desperately in her memory and trying to remember how the TARDIS had communicated with her back before she had met the Bad Wolf and changed everything. She couldn't very well tell him the truth - that she could hear the TARDIS's song in her head as though the ship were a part of her own mind. But how had the ship spoken to her back when she was still just a normal human girl?

"There was this hologram-type thing ..." Rose explained haltingly. "She gave me instructions through it."

The Doctor paused in thought for a moment before eventually nodding, but Rose could tell by the stiff posture of his spine that he still didn't believe her weak excuse.

"Oh, come on, Doctor," she sighed, finally bridging the nervous distance between them to stand at his side and run a comforting hand over his back. "I promise you're still her favorite. And we won't go and try to gang up on you or anything like that."

The Doctor laughed humorlessly and flashed her a small grin out of the corner of his eye as he returned to his frantic button pushing and dial-turning. "Yeah, you say that now," he muttered under his breath. "But it's always the same with you women."

"Excuse me?" Rose demanded haughtily, feeling an unwelcome wave of jealousy pricking at her insides.

The Doctor just shrugged innocently as he began to race in circles around the console, but Rose wasn't about to let him off of the hook that easily. She chased after him and demanded, "'You women'? What are you talking about '_you women_'? How many of us have there been?"

"Well, really only one," the Doctor called back to her cryptically as he continued his mad dash around the console. "Or I guess now you would make two ... Or is it technically three? Oh, but there was that one time ... Oh, well, never mind."

"What are you talking about?" Rose demanded irritatedly.

"The TARDIS!" the Doctor replied with a boisterous bark of laughter. "Flying the TARDIS. Not many have done it, but what do you say?"

"What ...?" Rose asked dazedly, his words immediately stopping her in her tracks.

"Want to learn? It's been ages since I've gotten to teach anyone," he admitted as he finished his last lap around the console and came to a stop behind her. When she turned to look at him, he added casually, "I mean, I don't really plan on having to leave the TARDIS behind again any time soon, but I have to admit that it was handy having an extra pilot around when I needed it today. And she clearly already likes you, so there's that."

"You're ... going to teach me how to fly the TARDIS ..." Rose repeated in complete disbelief.

The Doctor merely smiled that joyous, boyish smile of his that she really had no choice but to reciprocate as he shrugged and eagerly awaited her response.

Was this a thing that happened now? Did he do this with all of his companions? He said that there had been others, but even he seemed confused on those details. In her previous life with the Doctor, Rose could never have dreamed of him making an offer like this. He had showed her some basics over time, sure - but never had he offered her (or anyone else) _driving lessons_.

The TARDIS hummed a note of reassurance in the back of Rose's mind, calmly reminding her that a lot of time had passed for him since then and many things had happened. The silent support gave Rose the courage that she needed to straighten her spine and smile up at the Doctor with an expectant, teasing expression. "Alright, then," she agreed. "But don't think that this gives you an excuse to go wandering off whenever you like. I don't want to become your designated driver or whatever."

The Doctor gave her a hearty laugh in reply and Rose decided that she quite liked the sound of it. The smile definitely looked much better on him than the weary, lost expression that she had found him with not so very long ago. And the thought that maybe - just _maybe_ \- that smile was there because of her was enough to make her own heart flutter with a giddy happiness that she hadn't felt in years.

\--------------------

TARDIS flying lessons quickly ended in a smoking, sparking disaster, however, as something (or some_one_) locked onto their ship and began to mercilessly pull them in. Everything went distinctly pear-shaped after that, and Rose awoke to find herself completely alone, deep within the bowels of the time ship with a sharp, painful burn on her hand and no idea what was going on.

The TARDIS was keening morosely in the back of her mind and Rose reached out on instinct in an attempt to reassure her. "What is it now, Old Girl?" she whispered aloud into the silent, empty hallway. "What's happened?"

_Death, chaos, destruction, worry, sorry, have to help ... run ... save ..._

The jumble of words and emotions made no sense to her, but they still filled Rose with an impending sense of doom as she gazed around the darkened hallways of the old ship. _Where is he?_ she asked silently.

_Searching, searching, not fast enough ... dead, dead, dead ..._

Rose set her feet in the direction that she knew the console room should be, but the TARDIS was a disorganized, confused mess, and she ended up wandering aimlessly instead. The ship took her to all of the old rooms that she had once lived in and loved during her previous travels. The memories seemed to ring off of the very walls, and Rose swore that she could hear, at times, a familiar Northern accent or see the flash of brown coattails just around the corner.

Finally, the TARDIS brought her to a room that she didn't immediately recognize. It took Rose a few minutes to realize that it was a dimly-lit storage room - filled to overflowing with memorabilia from different times and places. Some of it she recognized as her own - an old jacket, some faded pictures, a locket that she had bought from a shop on Berantis Zeta. She quickly came to realize that this was a graveyard, of sorts - a place for the Doctor to bury his old hurt and memories.

"Oh, Doctor," Rose whispered aloud as she ran her fingers over the priceless old items. "What's happened to you?"

Rose suddenly realized in that moment that there was still so much about this thousand-year-old alien that she still didn't even know yet. He had traveled for nine centuries before meeting her, and then another century in between. How many had he loved and lost, in all that time? She felt the weight of his sorrow as her own as she turned her back o the room and made sure that the door was securely locked behind her.

It wasn't long after that that Rose realized that she was being stalked by some sort of humanoid creatures with glowing red eyes and black, charred skin. One of them had just managed to chase her down and trap her into one of the corners of the empty console room when a familiar hand suddenly grabbed hers and Rose found herself being pulled into the safety of the Doctor's arms once more.

Their reunion and promise of escape was predictably ruined, however, when a warning light flashed on the console screen and alerted them and their two new companions of an impending explosion. "Okay, detour!" the Doctor announced brightly.

"Where are we going?" one of the newcomers asked curiously.

"The center of the TARDIS."

They didn't make it far, though, before the old time ship began leaking memories all around them. Along with the charred, ashen zombies chasing them down, there were now voices (both familiar and new) and conversations echoing through the long, dark corridors as well.

"Doctor ...?" Rose asked in wonder as she rounded a corner and almost ran headlong into a man with floppy brown hair dressed in an unfamiliar tweed coat.

The man turned towards her, but his eyes gazed right through her as though she wasn't even there. Before Rose could say anything else, he grinned cheekily and then straightened his bowtie before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

"Stay away from them," the Doctor - the proper one, this time - commanded as he rounded the corner behind her and quickly took Rose's hand. "Don't touch them."

"Why? What happens if we touch them?" Rose asked as they continued to run full tilt down the winding hallways. "Doctor, _what_ is going on?"

"Well, there seems to be a small tear in the fabric of the continuum," he explained, his hand still gripping hers tightly as he led her deeper into the TARDIS. "It must have happened when the TARDIS was pulled in by the ..."

But the Doctor's words were cut off as they rounded a corner and both of them let out a startled cry of fright and immediately froze in place. At the end of the hallway before them was a tall man with cropped hair wearing a leather jacket and leaning over a young blonde girl. The Doctor and Rose watched in wide-eyed wonder as their previous selves smiled at each other before the memory-version of him suddenly grabbed young Rose's hand and the two of them ran off out of sight.

"What ...?" Rose breathed quietly in disbelief.

"Rose! This way!"

The Doctor and Rose turned in tandem to see a man in a brown suit behind them, reaching frantically back for someone just out of sight.

"Come on, we don't want to be late!"

"What ...?" Rose asked again as she watched a younger, blonder version of herself skip forward and easily take the younger Doctor's outstretched hand.

"Just ... old memories," the Doctor assured her quietly as he stared after the images like a starving man staring at a meal that he could never have.

"Oh, you never learn, do you, Sweetie?"

Rose turned towards the new, unfamiliar female voice to see a woman with a playful smirk and wild, gold curls. Her hands skimmed against the walls of the TARDIS hallway, effectively caging in the Doctor in tweed who was cowering away from her and looking around frantically for a way out.

"But you _can't_ do that, River, you just _can't_!" the younger Doctor insisted.

"I'll do what I like," the woman named River stated simply, leaning in and forcing her lips solidly against his.

"_What_?" Rose demanded, whirling on the current Doctor as a sudden flare of anger fired up within her.

"Best ... keep moving," he replied sheepishly, tugging on her hand and forcing them down the hallway in the opposite direction of the memory of River.

Rose allowed herself to be carted off further into the TARDIS, but she didn't try to hide her look of disgust and disappointment as she glared at the Doctor out of the corner of her eye. So there _had_ been others in her absence - and some of them from not so long ago, if the Doctor's face was anything to go by.

She had asked him once if she was just the latest in a long line. Unfortunately, it seemed that that was just one more thing that hadn't changed ...


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been so eager to share this chapter with all of you, and I couldn't be more pleased that it happened to fall on Doctor Who Day! Happy 56th Anniversary!!  
Thank you to all of the lovely people who have left kudos, bookmarks, and comments! You make the writing process so rewarding, and I hope that this chapter lives up to your expectations, because I loved writing it! <3 <3

All of Rose's petty jealousies were soon forgotten, however, when the four of them entered into the Eye of Harmony and discovered that they were now trapped between two oncoming sets of ashen zombie monsters.

"There's no way out! We're trapped!" the man called Gregor shouted as he slammed the door shut on their one remaining chance at escape.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted, grabbing the Time Lord's arm as he attempted to race past her and forcing him to stop and face her. "You know what they are, I know you do, so just tell us!"

"I can't," the Doctor replied, his eyes wide with panic as he fought and failed to find another option for their survival.

"Tell me!" Rose insisted desperately. "What's the use in secrets now?"

"Secrets protect us! Secrets make us safe!" the Doctor shouted in response, bringing his hands to either side of her face as though he could somehow protect her through sheer willpower alone.

But the old argument did nothing to reassure Rose. In fact, it only served to make her more frustrated than ever with him. She was _tired_ of secrets. Maybe she had been spoiled by her life of humanity with her half-human husband who held nothing back from her, but whatever happened now, Rose knew that she never, _ever_ wanted to go back to the times when the Doctor used clever lies and witty half-truths to keep her at a safe distance - telling her all the while that it was for her own good.

Just then, a robotic female voice interrupted them from somewhere over Rose's left shoulder. "Sensor detects animal DNA," Gregor's intelligent sensor announced. "Human core element. Calculating data ... calculating data ..."

"No, no, turn it off!" the Doctor shouted desperately, immediately releasing his hold on Rose and pushing past her in a mad dash back towards the two salvage dealers behind them, who were currently holding the sensor up to one of the charred monsters.

"Unidentifiable substance," the sensor declared resolutely before the Doctor could reach them.

Gregor and Tricky stared at one another in silent confusion while the Doctor froze in place, his hand half-raised as though to snatch the sensor out of Gregor's hand.

"What is it?" Rose asked from where she stood frozen watching them. "That thing said ... it said 'human core element'. What does that mean, Doctor? What are those things?"

Gregor and Tricky, finding no further information or anything of value, ran past her towards the door on the other end of the room without comment.

"I'm so sorry," the Doctor muttered quietly. "It isn't just the past leaking out through the time rift. It's the future." He stepped closer to her once more, returning his hands to either side of her face as he bent close to level his gaze with hers. "Listen, I brought you here to keep you safe, but it happened again. You _died_ again."

"You're saying we're going to die here?" Rose asked breathlessly as she met his gaze. The half-crazed look in his eyes was making her more nervous than she had been in a long time. "Doctor, those things ... are they ...?"

But he turned away from her before she could finish her thought, running his hands through his hair and over his face and suddenly showing every single one of his thousand years in the weary set of his shoulders.

Rose didn't need to finish her question, though - she had already put the pieces together to come to the truth. She knew that these creatures were somehow their future selves - or, at least, what was left of them after they all fell to their fateful deaths in the Eye of Harmony.

The TARDIS's song had risen to a scream within Rose's head and she winced as the ship's pain and sorrow filled her mind. She watched helplessly as Gregor and Tricky fused together and transformed into an indistinguishable black mass right before her eyes. The TARDIS lamented with her, groaning out a melody of loss and regret.

_Too late, too late ... death, fire, pain ... run, you have to run ..._

She must have been projecting the same commands to the Doctor, because he immediately rushed to Rose's side, took her hand in his, and then pulled her after him as they raced to stay out of the clutches of the new two-headed, red-eyed monster that was lumbering quickly towards them.

"The engine room," the Doctor commanded, pointing the way forward with his free hand. "The heart of the TARDIS."

Rose followed him obediently, not needing him to guide her as he normally did since the TARDIS was leading them both quite clearly in the direction that she wanted them to go. However, the sentient ship failed to warn either of them to watch their step as a set of doors opened before them and they nearly ran head-long over the edge of a rough cliff face. Rose and the Doctor shouted in unison and pin-wheeled on the spot in an attempt to regain their balance and keep from tipping over to their deaths.

"'The engine room'?" Rose repeated dubiously as they paused to catch their breaths and get a better look at the rocks shrouded in mist around them. Her hand was still being held firmly in his, and she made no move to step away even though his grip was irritating the burn on her palm.

"Yes, well, we're almost there," the Doctor replied, motioning across the great expanse of empty space that stood before them as though that were explanation enough for the fact that they suddenly seemed to be outdoors.

"But there's no way across," Rose muttered, eyeing the impossible distance that stood between them and the other side.

"No, okay, you're right ..." he agreed distractedly.

"So what do we do?" she asked, squeezing his hand in an attempt to get him to focus. "Time for a plan. Do you have a plan?"

"Well ... no. No plan. Sorry," the Doctor replied slowly as he turned to face her with a sheepish expression.

"You always have a plan," Rose reminded him simply. "So come on, out with it."

"Nope. Not this time. No plan, no escape, no chance at survival," the Doctor stated matter-of-factly. "So go on, then, why don't you just tell me?"

"Sorry?" Rose asked in confusion.

"Well, there's no point now," the Doctor reminded her, gesturing around at their lack of options before glancing back at her with a weighted look in his eyes. "We're about to die, you see. So go on, then. Just tell me who you are."

"Are we ... doing this _now_?" Rose asked through gritted teeth.

The Doctor immediately dropped her hand and she felt it like a slap to the face as he turned his back on her only to whirl around a second later to level a dangerous-looking glare on her. "Yes! We are!" he shouted angrily, making her flinch as he came close and bent over her intimidatingly. "I look at you every single day and I don't understand a thing about you. _Why_ do I keep running into you?"

"Doctor, I ..."

"I met you in the dalek asylum," he interrupted her. "There was a girl in a shipwreck and she died saving my life, and she was _you_."

"Doctor, please, let me ..."

"Victorian London!" he continued as though she hadn't spoken. "There was a governess who was really a barmaid, and we fought the Great Intelligence together. She died, and it was my fault, and _she_ was _you_!"

"Doctor, listen to me!" Rose begged, feeling tears prick at the back of her eyes as he simply continued to advance on her threateningly. This was the first time in her long, long life that Rose had ever been afraid of the man who she loved and it was breaking her heart to see him like this. She knew that the time for the truth was now - if only he would just _listen_.

"What are you, eh? A _trick_? A _trap_?" he demanded loudly, continuing to back her up closer and closer to the ledge and the steep, steep drop below ...

"Doctor, _please_!" Rose cried, but her voice ended on a choked gasp as she felt the rocks beneath her feet shifting and then she was stumbling backwards towards the great chasm behind her.

The only thing that stopped her from plummeting to her death was the Doctor's hand quickly taking hold of hers and pulling her back to him in a tight embrace. Rose felt as though she was unraveling, with his arms being the only thing holding her together as he squeezed her closer and pulled her quickly out of harm's way. Her heart was filled to overflowing with a combined ache for the Doctor she had known in her previous life, her husband, and for the man who was here with her now. Even here, when he was accusing her and doubting her at every turn, he was still saving her life, and being in his arms felt like she was finally, _finally_ coming home.

"Oh, Clara, I'm sorry ..." he whispered quietly as he heaved a sigh and buried his nose against her neck.

The false name was what finally broke her last shred of resolve. Rose squeezed her eyes shut tight and murmured against his shoulder, "My name's not Clara."

The Doctor instantly went very still and very silent, but Rose refused to let go of her strangle-hold on his neck - she didn't want him to be able to step back and see her devastated expression as tears began to slowly fall from her eyes. He still fidgeted uncomfortably within her grip, though, as he murmured a questioning noise into her hair.

"My name's not Clara," she repeated, stepping back slightly and resting her forehead against the rough wool of his waistcoat. "It's a fake name - an ... alibi."

The Doctor made quick use of what little space she had put between them and immediately stepped back so that he could keep her at arms-length and look her fully in the eye. "Who are you, then?" he asked, his voice low and dangerous once more.

"I know how important names are to you, Doctor," Rose muttered slowly, flashing him a sad, uneven smile. "I know the value of a true name on Gallifrey."

She watched as his green eyes widened in surprise, but Rose forced herself to continue on before he could give voice to the many questions that she could see running through his mind. "I can tell you my real name, but I need for you to understand the gravity of the situation. It's a name that's a secret. No one else in this universe will know it, except for you. You're the only one who will ever be able to speak it out loud. Do you understand, Doctor?"

Rose had received similar instructions after she had married her husband and learned his true name - the same name of the man currently standing before her. It was a sacred tradition amongst his people - a ceremony that was not to be taken lightly.

The Doctor's gaze was hesitantly curious but also gravely serious as he examined her carefully before giving one quick nod of assent.

"Well, in that case, I'll give you all three," Rose told him with a nervous smile. She took another deep breath to steel herself before she looked him directly in the eye and whispered, "The first name ... is Bad Wolf."

The Doctor flinched as though she had hit him and there was a flare of fire in his deep green eyes as he stared down at her. Rose ignored all of that, though, as she grabbed him by his waistcoat and pulled him close so that she could lean up and whisper the second name into his ear. It was _his_ name - the one that could never be spoken out loud unless they were completely alone, and even then only in hushed tones.

This name instantly froze him in his tracks and she swore that he wasn't even breathing as she stepped back to look him in the eye once more. His brow began to furrow in silent question, but Rose took another step back so that there could be a respectable distance between them before she gave him the third and final name.

She still wasn't quite sure how he was going to take all of this information, so she didn't want to push him even further out of his comfort zone than he already was. She ran her fingers nervously along the hem of her dress and forced herself to meet his shocked green gaze as she finally opened her mouth and stated, "My name ... is Rose. Rose Tyler."

The last name was like a punch in the gut and the Doctor seemed to physically sag as he let out a long breath of air and simply stared at her. Rose watched him as patiently as she knew how as his giant alien brain slowly put all of the pieces together and analyzed every single moment that they had been together up until this point.

"Hello ..." she muttered nervously, flashing him a tight smile and a small, teasing wave.

"How ...?" he finally asked breathlessly, his eyes still wide and disbelieving as he slowly looked her over from head to toe and then back again.

Rose let out a breathy, nervous laugh and clasped her hands behind her back so that he wouldn't see them shaking. "That's a _long_ story," she replied. "Long and confusing. And we're in the center of an exploding TARDIS, so ..."

"No," the Doctor muttered under his breath. "No, no, no!" Each time that he said the word, he got louder - and suddenly he was stalking towards her, closing the distance that she had so carefully put between them.

"Sorry ...?" Rose asked in confusion as she gazed up at his stormy expression.

"No," he stated again through clenched teeth. "I don't care what else is going on. I want answers - _now_."

Rose was about to open her mouth and ask him what he was talking about when suddenly his hands were on either side of her face again and she could feel his presence creeping up around the edge of her mind as his fingers slowly drifted closer towards her temples ...

"Oi!" she shouted indignantly, raising her own arms to shove his out of the way as she stepped quickly out of his reach. There was no denying the allure of his mind being so close to hers, though. Rose had been missing her link with her husband terribly over the past few years, and the promise of having that again - even if it wasn't a full bond - with the man who she loved most in all the universe was tempting, to say the least.

But the fact that he had attempted to do so without asking first was extremely offensive, and she glared up at him with a mixture of rage and shock. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded angrily.

The Doctor blinked at her in surprise, as though it had just now occurred to him how incredibly _rude_ he was being. To his credit, his cheeks flushed pink as he stuttered awkwardly and backed away from her once more, but Rose wasn't about to let him off the hook so easily.

"You can't just do that without asking!" she shouted haughtily. "You can't go forcing yourself into people's minds like that. Blimey, Doctor, what's happened to you? What would _ever_ make you think that doing something like that was okay?"

There was hurt in his eyes, then, but he smiled wanly and shook his head as he backed away a couple more steps, quietly allowing Rose her personal space. "Right. Sorry," he muttered quietly. "I forgot ... I mean it's been such a long time ... Most humans don't know what this is." He raised his hands before him, shrugged lamely, and then began to wring them nervously together. "I wasn't going to intrude, I swear. I just ... needed to know."

"Know what?" Rose asked quietly, her ire dimming as she watched the dejected slump of his shoulders.

The Doctor looked up at her with a haunted expression as he replied, "I needed to know that you were ... _real_."

Rose sighed heavily and shook her head at her daft old alien before she stepped forward and silently offered him her hand. He took it wearily, refusing to meet her eye as he stared at her fingers like they were the most dangerous things in the galaxy.

As soon as their skin touched, Rose opened her mind to him and projected the memories of her experience with the Bad Wolf into his head. His breath hitched at the sudden mental contact, and he screwed his eyes shut tight as she silently showed him the truth of what had happened to her - the _whole_ truth, not leaving a single detail unaccounted for between them.

Rose, however, couldn't have torn her gaze away from him in that moment even if she had tried. She was sure that she was smiling like a completely besotted fool when he finally took a deep breath and opened his eyes once more, but she couldn't quite bring herself to care.

The Doctor's lips twitched upwards as he met her gaze again and he let out a long, slow breath. "Hello," he whispered quietly, his green eyes sparkling as he finally, _finally_ smiled at her once more.

"Hello, Doctor," Rose replied, easily mirroring his expression. "It's good to see you again."


	12. Chapter Twelve

The Doctor had wrapped Rose up in another crushing hug as soon as he had recovered from his shock and lifted her practically off of her feet with his enthusiasm. When he finally set her down and stepped away again he was smiling from ear-to-ear as he gazed down at her.

"We're not gonna die here!" he announced brightly. "This isn't real." He dropped her hand, spun on the spot, and then grabbed a nearby rock and threw it into the ravine before them. "It's a snarl!"

"A ... what?" Rose asked, completely lost.

"What does a wounded animal do? It tries to scare everyone away," the Doctor explained quickly, peering down into the depth of empty space below. "We're close to the engine. The TARDIS is snarling at us, trying to frighten us off. We need to jump."

"Okay, so you haven't changed _that_ much," Rose amended, laughing breathlessly as she came to stand at his side at the edge of the cliff face.

"Hey, now, Cla - ooh, wait, hold on. What do I call you now?" the Doctor asked, interrupting his own thoughts as his brain raced on ahead of him. "Oswin? Clara? Oh, but that's weird ... Why'd you have to go and change your name?"

"Says the alien who went and changed his _face_," Rose retorted pointedly.

"Oi!" the Doctor chided, gesturing towards her in a wild up-and-down motion. "Look who's talking!"

And Rose couldn't help but laugh out loud at the strange situation that they had found themselves in, her happy relief ringing out through the mist around them. The Doctor smiled in response as he watched her and Rose wondered why she had bothered to keep all of this a secret for so long. Now that she had proved the truth to him, he was looking at her exactly the same way that he had always done before they had been forced apart into two separate worlds. The familiar look in his new eyes nearly took her breath away.

"Alright, fair point," she conceded finally. "But, to be fair, I didn't exactly go and _plan_ all of this." She paused for a moment in consideration before continuing, "I suppose you should probably call me 'Clara' when we're around other people. The Bad Wolf said something about implanting memories in other people's heads, so that's probably what the rest of this world would know me by."

"But ... when we're not around other people?" the Doctor asked cautiously, his eyes nervously scanning the empty space that surrounded them.

Rose flashed him a soft smile as she tilted her head affectionately towards him. "Well, you know my _real_ name, Doctor," she reminded him softly. "Might as well use it." Her smile faltered after a moment and she added awkwardly, "That is ... if it's alright with you. I know that it's all a bit ... weird."

The Doctor smiled and took a step closer to her, slowly letting his fingers slide around hers until they were standing side-by-side and hand-in-hand once more. "It's not weird," he muttered quietly. His green eyes took on a misty quality that Rose hadn't seen on this new face yet and he added, "I've missed you, Rose."

And her name - her _real, true_ name - on his lips sounded like a prayer, a promise, and a vow all in one. Rose nearly choked on all of the emotions welling up within her, but the Doctor quickly reminded her that there were more important matters to attend to as he squeezed her hand and then slowly led them backwards so that they could attempt a running leap over the chasm before them.

"Ready?" he asked, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye as they faced off against the impossible odds before them.

"Always," she replied with a wide smile.

"Geronimo."

The two of them jumped in tandem and instantly landed in a large, white room filled with shards of floating shrapnel.

"The heart of the TARDIS ..." the Doctor whispered under his breath.

"Doctor ..." Rose murmured as she tentatively reached out and slid her finger over one of the metal pieces nearest her. "What's happened to her?"

The TARDIS was still moaning and groaning in her head, her sorrow nearly overwhelming Rose's own senses.

"The engine ... it's already exploded," the Doctor replied quietly. "It must have been the collision with the salvage ship. She wrapped her hands around the force. Froze it."

_Dying, dying, can't sustain ..._ the ship wailed desperately.

"How long until she can't hold it any longer?" Rose asked tentatively.

"There's no way I can save her now," the Doctor replied with a humorless breath of laughter. He shook his head and fiddled nervously with his hands as he cautiously picked through the floating shrapnel around them. "She's just always been there for me, and taken care of me, and now it's my turn and I don't know what to do ..." he murmured frantically to himself.

Rose stepped forward without another word and grabbed the Doctor's arm, sliding her fingers down to link with his in that easy, comfortable way that had always come so effortlessly to the two of them. She pushed a mental wave of comforting reassurance his way as she wearily eyed the frozen explosion all around them.

Before she could offer any sort of solution, however, the Doctor was raising their joined hands and frowning thoughtfully at her palm.

"It's just a burn ..." Rose murmured distractedly, not wanting him to put up a fuss over her when there were far more important things to worry about. "It happened when we landed."

"No. It's not," the Doctor replied, frowning hard as he twisted her hand in his to get a better look at it.

"What?" Rose asked, confused.

"No, it's not," the Doctor repeated. "It's not a burn, it's a message."

Rose raised herself up to the tips of her toes to get a better look at the mark on her hand as the Doctor traced his fingers over her sensitive skin. She could see now that there were a series of interlocking circles in the Doctor's native language burned into the skin of her palm, and she wondered at how she hadn't recognized the distinctive pattern earlier.

"What does it say?" she asked curiously. Rose clumsily sounded the words out as she narrowed her eyes on the alien language. Her husband had taught her how to read circular Gallifreyan over the years, but there was still much about the language that she didn't understand, and the words on her hand were all backwards, like she was reading them through the mirror.

When the Doctor didn't immediately reply, Rose glanced up to see that he was standing very close to her and his eyes were wide with surprise.

Rose smiled and playfully rolled her eyes at him as she carefully reminded him, "Known a few Time Lords in my day, you know."

The Doctor's grin then was a mix between wild hope and wondering disbelief as he brought her hand closer and pressed a kiss to the burned skin of her palm.

"Big, friendly button," he announced grandly as he hastily grabbed for his sonic. "The rift in time, all the memories leaking out. I need to find the moment we crashed ..."

The Doctor raised his sonic and waved it through the air around them, finally settling on a direction when the whirring noise of the screwdriver raised in pitch. He flashed Rose an excited grin before purposefully reaching for her uninjured hand and leading her off back through the TARDIS.

They arrived quickly back in the console room, where a glowing white light was seeping through a vertical crack in the wall. "The time rift," the Doctor explained quickly as he led them closer to it. "Recent past, possible future."

"What are you going to do?" Rose asked cautiously as he dropped her hand and stepped closer to the ominous glowing chasm.

"Rewrite today, I hope," he stated simply.

"But ... what does that mean?" Rose asked as the Doctor pulled a round, silver object from his pocket and pressed his sonic to it.

"If I get this right, then it means that this entire day would have never happened," the Doctor explained hastily as he furrowed his brow intently on the work in his hands.

"Is this another thing that you just ... _do_ now?" Rose asked suspiciously as she watched him. "Do you just ... _rewrite_ your own history?"

"When I have to," the Doctor agreed quietly, flashing her a quick look before focusing back on his work.

"But ... what about us?" Rose asked hesitantly. "What's going to happen to us?"

"We should end up right back where we started," the Doctor explained simply. "Everything will be exactly as it was before the crash."

"But, will we ... Will you remember?" she asked quietly, her mouth suddenly going dry. "Doctor ... will you remember who I really am?"

"Not sure," he replied distractedly, still not meeting her eyes. He had finished with the work in his hands and Rose saw that he had engraved the round, silver device to reflect what had been imprinted into her hand. He flipped the thing about nervously for a moment before taking a step closer to the glowing rift.

"Doctor, wait!" Rose insisted, grabbing his elbow and pulling him forcefully around to meet her eyes. "But you can't. I don't want you to forget. I don't want the secrets anymore."

His jaw twitched as he watched her for a moment before he quietly admitted, "Neither do I."

Rose's grip on his arm tightened and he sighed wearily as he turned and grabbed her uninjured hand once more. "This is the only way to save us - to save _all_ of us," the Doctor reminded her gently. "I have to do this. There's a chance we might both retain our memories, I don't know. We're at the heart of this thing, so we might just be able to remember. But either way, it doesn't change anything. We'll still be here, together, and you'll know who you are, at the very least."

"But ... what if I never find another chance to tell you?" Rose insisted desperately. "What if you never find out who I am again?"

"Rose," the Doctor interrupted her, her true name instantly settling her anxious thoughts. "You're here," he reminded her calmly. "You made your way back to me - against all odds, all reason, all rationality. You're back, and that's all that matters." He squeezed her hand reassuringly and his smile was filled with the centuries of unspoken words that lay between them. "We'll find each other in the end. We always do."

Rose swallowed past the lump in her throat as she stood on the tips of her toes once more and pressed her lips against his cheek. "Always," she agreed, her voice soft as she whispered her quiet vow into his ear.

She was about to pull away from him when the Doctor's free arm suddenly came around her back and pulled her into another tight, desperate hug, which Rose eagerly returned.

_Always,_ he promised silently as he gently brushed against her thoughts with his own. He remained a respectable distance away from the rest of her mind, but Rose could still feel his overwhelming sensation of heartbroken desire as he forced himself to step away and focus on the task at hand.

_Forever,_ Rose replied before he could let go.

The Doctor didn't meet her gaze again before he thrust himself through the glowing time rift and Rose's ears were instantly filled with the sounds of his screams.

\--------------------

When she finally came to again, Rose was standing in her bedroom (the ship had provided her with a brand new one upon her return to this universe without her even having to ask) on the TARDIS and staring blankly into her mirror. She blinked hard a few times as her mind desperately tried to sort out the conflicting timelines in her head.

Part of her knew that she was standing here because she had been getting dressed in preparation for another day of adventures with the Doctor, but another part of her knew that she had just been in the console room with him, listening to his screams as he rewrote time in order to save his exploding ship.

Rose winced at her reflection as the memories and activities of two separate days collided within her head and suddenly every single muscle in her body ached. Beneath all of it, though, was an undeniable urge to seek out the Doctor. She needed to know if he had retained the truth of her identity.

Rose forced herself towards the console room, happy to hear the TARDIS's usual melody back in her head - though the ship seemed to be just as weary as she felt. The Doctor was standing at the controls, his back to her and his shoulders hunched in a haggard stance as he leaned heavily against the console.

"Doctor?" Rose called out hesitantly.

Her voice seemed to shock him out of whatever thoughts he had been lost in and he immediately shot up, twirled around, and flashed her an eager, excited look.

"Ready to go, then?" he asked cheerily. "Where should we head off to next, eh? I was thinking maybe we could check out the Alignment of Trulemond - always wanted to go, it sounds lovely. Or maybe we should pop back to Earth for a bit? Make sure that there're no invasions going on this week? Your planet does tend to attract a lot of unwelcome visitors, it's really quite alarming ..."

"Could we leave it for now?" Rose asked as she rubbed at her temples. "I'm completely knackered."

"Yes, okay," the Doctor replied slowly. "Break for some rest and relaxation it is, then. Feeling a bit run down, myself. Bit odd, really - that usually doesn't happen."

He had turned away from her again, continuing to fiddle with the console controls even though Rose knew that he wasn't setting a destination.

"Doctor?" she asked cautiously. "Are you ... alright?" It wasn't the question that she really wanted to ask, but she couldn't very well just come right out and ask him if he remembered a day that had technically never happened without sounding completely insane.

"Sure, yeah," he replied, watching her wearily out of the corner of his eye. "You?"

Rose glanced down at her hands as she fidgeted awkwardly under his gaze, unsure of how exactly to respond. Suddenly, however, her attention was diverted as she realized that the red, circular marks had disappeared completely from her palm - her skin was as clear and smooth as though she had never been burned (which, she supposed, she _hadn't_, now).

Rose figured that it was as good a test as any to try and gauge the Doctor's memory, so she lifted her healed right hand and smiled cheerily. "My hand's all better," she announced, wiggling her fingers at him in demonstration and silently begging for him to recognize the casual attempt to jog his memory.

A slow smile spread out over the Doctor's features as he turned to face her fully once more. He closed the space between them in three large steps and took her healed hand in his, smoothing his fingers over her freshly-healed skin before raising her hand so that he could brush his lips softly against her knuckles.

"Still just as jeopardy-friendly as ever, Miss. Tyler," he replied, her true name a whispered secret between them.

His green eyes were glittering mischievously and Rose couldn't help her own elated grin as she stared up at him and knew for certain that not a single memory had been lost between them and they were finally, _finally_ back to what they were always meant to be - Rose Tyler and the Doctor in the TARDIS, off to find a new adventure. It didn't matter where in space or when in time, as long as they were _together_.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

After everything that had happened, Rose desperately wanted to retreat to the galley for a nice hot cuppa, but the Doctor insisted that they visit the infirmary first, and he led her there despite her protests with her hand in his.

"Really, my hand's fine, now, Doctor," Rose reminded him with a gentle roll of her eyes. "I don't need a check-up."

"'Course not," he agreed blithely. "Everything's back to rights, not a thing to worry about. Just ... have a few things I want to check."

Rose shook her head as she squeezed his hand and obediently followed his lead. She should have guessed, really - she had explained the truth to the Doctor, but now it was his turn to analyze the situation and break the whole thing down to its molecular level. She knew that he couldn't resist dissecting a mystery, so she silently resigned herself to becoming his newest puzzle to solve.

He prattled off some nonsense excuse about checking for anomalies as she perched herself on the edge of the examination table and patiently allowed him to scan her, but they both knew that the Doctor was going deeper - searching for a way to explain her strange new body and sudden reappearance.

"So," he went on conversationally, "how long have you been back, then?"

"Hard to say," Rose murmured, humming as she stared thoughtfully at the infirmary ceiling. "You know, I'd forgotten how hard it is to gauge time, bouncing around in this box. But my first day back was the day that I called you. I was trying to look you up online, but the Wi-Fi wasn't working. What's that about, by the way?" she asked, narrowing her eyes on him. "Do people just ... _call_ you, now?"

"It does tend to happen, yeah," the Doctor replied distractedly. "It's meant to be a _private_ number, though. How'd you get it, anyway?"

"Don't know," Rose replied honestly. "It was just there - written on a post-it on my desk when I woke up. There was a girl in that house, a teenager - she said that some woman in a shop gave it to me. Probably one of those implanted memories that the Bad Wolf was talking about."

The Doctor hummed thoughtfully as he continued to fiddle with the scanners and their readouts, but he didn't offer any further insight as he worked.

"Just one more mystery to solve, eh?" Rose teased lightly.

"They're starting to pile up, aren't they?" the Doctor replied sardonically.

"Oh, come on. You love it," Rose insisted with a playful smile.

The Doctor flashed her a matching, flirtatious grin out of the corner of his eye, but the smile quickly dissipated as he turned to face her fully with a dark, serious expression. "Rose, I need to know that you're ... safe," he insisted quietly. "I need to know that there won't be any adverse reactions to everything that's happened to you."

Rose offered him a reassuring smile as she nodded in agreement. "Go on, then," she encouraged him gently. "Tell us what you've found."

The Doctor frowned as he skimmed over the readouts on the various screens surrounding the infirmary, but Rose knew that he was satisfied to be in his element once more - solving mysteries, decoding anomalies - even though the circumstances weren't necessarily ideal.

"Everything seems to be in order," he mused out loud. "All systems working normally. Everything functioning as it should. Still definitely human, though the DNA has changed slightly and your cells are degenerating at a significantly slower rate ..."

"My DNA's changed?" Rose interrupted him curiously. "What, seriously?"

The Doctor turned to cock an eyebrow at her in a sarcastic expression as he muttered, "Well, you can't exactly go and get a brand new face without a couple of changes on the genetic level, now, can you?"

The conversation was so ridiculous and their situation was so impossible that Rose couldn't help but laugh out loud as she mused over the many changes that had occurred between the last time that she had actually been with the Doctor and now. Would they ever be able to fully understand the complex intricacies of time that had led them both to this point?

The Doctor smiled seemingly despite himself as he watched Rose's mirthful expression. She was still seated on the examination table, so for once, she was of a similar height to him and it was easy to meet his eye. "I think you're enjoying this a little bit too much," he muttered as Rose kicked her legs playfully through the empty space that stood between them.

"Maybe so," she replied, leaning forward and tilting her head teasingly in his direction. "But I think you probably are, too."

The two of them grinned at each other like fools for a few moments and Rose was amazed yet again at how easily they were able to slip back into their flirtatious back-and-forth as though they had never been parted in the first place.

Rose also didn't miss the way that the Doctor's eyes fell and settled on her lips, not even trying to hide the quiet longing in his deep green eyes as his smile softened and grew wistful.

Rose longed very much to grab for his waistcoat and draw his own tantalizing lips closer to hers, but she had seen far too many other women take advantage of the Doctor in that way before (including the one with the wild curls that she had seen in the hallway earlier, Rose still hadn't forgotten about _that_), and she stubbornly refused to stoop to that level. So instead, she simply continued to smile at him in a flirtatious, encouraging way - silently urging him to be the one to bridge the gap between them and settle all of her lingering doubts once and for all.

The Doctor's gaze rose slowly to meet hers, nervous apprehension settling into steady purpose as he gently raised one hand to her face and ran his thumb delicately against her left cheekbone. After a moment's pause, he took a hesitant step forward and rested his forehead against hers, simply breathing her in and gathering his courage as he reveled in her nearness.

"Never thought I'd see you again," he admitted quietly, his eyes slipping closed as though he were afraid to believe the proof of his own traitorous senses.

"Me, neither," Rose whispered back in agreement, watching his face carefully as he leaned against her. She raised her own hand to his cheek then, tracing his new features with careful, reverent fingers. "Any other faces I missed?" she asked lightly.

The Doctor chuckled through his nose and finally leaned back slightly and opened his eyes once more to look at her. "Nope. Just this one. Had it for a while, now."

"What happened?" Rose asked gently.

"Blimey, there's a question ..." the Doctor sighed wearily, giving her a small, sad smile. "I suppose it all came down to what it usually does - someone was in trouble, so I helped them."

"By sacrificing yourself," Rose finished for him, knowing that she didn't need to phrase the sentence as a question. It was simply what the Doctor did - he always put himself last.

"It all worked out in the end," he replied with an easy shrug, his fingers ghosting along Rose's skin once more as he began to not-so-subtly change the subject. "What about ... the Doctor?" he asked hesitantly. "_Your_ Doctor? You said his heart gave out ..." His gaze dropped to the imitation wedding ring that Rose had taken to wearing on a borrowed chain around her neck ever since she had gotten it back from the Doctor after Akhaten. It simply felt _wrong_ to wear a ring that wasn't her husbands on her finger.

Rose nodded sadly in response, gently tracing her fingers along the edge of the Doctor's lips as she suddenly felt the thin chain like a weight against her shoulders.

"He had a good life, Rose," the Doctor reminded her simply, running his hand up through her hair and along her scalp.

"How do you know that?" she asked quietly, staring hard at his features and refusing to meet his eyes.

"Because I know _him_," the Doctor stated matter-of-factly. "Quite well, actually. You might say that I know him better than anyone else in the universe. And if he had a lifetime with you, then it was more than enough."

Rose could feel tears pricking the backs of her eyes and she went against her better judgement and finally took the initiative to bridge the space between them as she wrapped her hand around the Doctor's neck and pulled his lips into her own. She still made sure not to cage him in, though - she had seen what had happened when Clara and the strange blonde woman had kissed him, and she didn't want to risk sending the Doctor flailing awkwardly about while she forced her affection on him.

The Doctor tensed immediately, but Rose was pleased to note that he didn't try to resist her, and even nervously attempted to reciprocate her warm, willing lips after a few moments. Rose hummed encouragingly against his mouth and he hesitantly brought both hands up to frame her face, drawing her in deeper as though he were afraid that she might disappear before his very eyes if he didn't keep both hands on her at all times.

When Rose's tongue briefly grazed against his bottom lip, the Doctor's mind immediately reached for hers on instinct, his overwhelming, aching need crashing over her in waves. _Missed you, missed you, don't go, please stay,_ his thoughts hummed loudly as he fought to gain control of his emotions.

Rose welcomed his thoughts warmly, her own mind opening up to him like a wilted flower receiving its first rain after a long drought. she felt the Doctor's surprise at her ability and willingness to so easily meet his thoughts, but she didn't get a chance to test their connection any further.

As soon as Rose mentally reached for him, there was an electric shock that ran through her entire body and the old mental bond that she had shared with her husband flared gold inside her mind. She gasped as her entire body reeled with the sensation - everything in her feeling as though it were shorting out as she fought to regain her senses.

The Doctor had gone tense before her, his entire body one long line of tension as Rose blinked dazedly at his wide, shocked eyes. "I'm ... I wasn't ... That wasn't ... Oh, no, Doctor, I didn't mean ..." she stuttered helplessly.

"No, no, it's ... fine," the Doctor muttered haltingly, his own voice going high and uneven with his shocked surprise. "I didn't even think ..."

"I really wasn't trying to do anything, I swear ..." Rose insisted desperately. She knew from long conversations with her husband just how sacred these telepathic bonds were, and she knew that the way that her mind had suddenly attempted to force a connection with his was about as rude and forward as a touch telepath could get.

"No, it wasn't your fault, Rose," the Doctor explained with an air of forced calm. "It's probably not something that you can control. It's just ... your bond is trying to reconnect. It's instinctual - a subconscious force. Like ... like two oppositely charged magnets coming together."

At the Doctor's dejected, downward-cast glance, Rose's heart broke all over again for this confusing, difficult situation that they had suddenly found themselves in. She wanted to tell herself that this was all just a mistake and that it was never meant to happen this way, but she had a hunch from all that she had seen from the Bad Wolf that that wasn't necessarily true. From the rare glimpses that she had caught of all of time and space, Rose thought that maybe this - her being reunited with the Doctor again - was always meant to happen in exactly this way, for better or for worse.

"I'm so sorry," Rose muttered quietly. She was sorry for so many things - sorry that her husband had died, sorry that she had been left all alone, sorry that the Doctor had been abandoned while she was off living her happily ever after in a parallel world. Rose shook her head as she hunched her shoulders up around her ears, completely overcome by embarrassment and frustration.

"Rose." Her name on his lips was becoming an increasingly distracting issue - it drew her entire focus to him and made everything else around her instantly fade away.

"Don't be sorry," he whispered simply, reaching for one of her hands and bringing it to his lips so that he could brush another gentle kiss across her knuckles. The Doctor then covered her hand with both of his, as though attempting to seal the gift of his kiss into her skin forever.

He cautiously let his thoughts trail against hers one last time before he let her go. He showed her glimpses of memories of all of the time that they had been separated - the hardships that he had gone through, the loneliness, the pain and suffering - but over all of it he layered his current sense of wistful satisfaction. The Doctor silently and wordlessly reminded her that they were together again - _at last_ \- as they should be.

_Never apologize for this,_ he insisted silently, making it quite clear that he had all that he could ever want and more sitting right here in front of him.

Rose sighed as he let go of her hand and his presence slowly retreated from her mind. She hoped that her teary-eyed smile was answer enough to let him know that she felt the exact same way.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

"Okay, so ... _not_ London 1893 - _Yorkshire_ 1893\. Near enough!"

Rose watched with amused fascination as the Doctor bolted from the TARDIS and quickly assessed their new surroundings.

"Are you doing this on purpose?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him but unable to hide the wry, upward turn of her lips.

"What?" the Doctor asked, whirling back to face her as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "What are you talking about? Doing what on purpose?"

"You keep taking us to the same sorts of places," Rose insisted, smoothing out the skirts of her period, late-nineteenth century dress as she watched him. "First the rings of Akhaten with all of the aliens, now we're all dressed up for the 1800s. I mean, is Charles Dickens going to be waiting just around the corner? Or, I don't know, have you got the Face of Boe tucked away somewhere?"

The Doctor gaped at her for a moment with a look of shocked offense. "This isn't the same!" he insisted, stepping closer and scowling down at her. "This is _completely_ different! We went to Akhaten for a festival, not an 'end of the world' party - and there were carnivorous suns and zombies in pyramids! And this is _way_ off from 1860s Cardiff - Charles Dickens has been dead for decades! And there was loads of stuff in between there, too, I'll have you know. Or have you already forgotten the Ice Warriors and the ghosts?"

"I don't know ..." Rose teased in a sing-song voice, "looks to me like you might be running out of ideas. Maybe you're just not as _impressive_ as you used to be, eh, Doctor?"

"Oh, you ..." the Doctor growled, though his goofy smile took away from the menacing effect that he was attempting to muster up. "I'll show you impressive, _Miss. Oswald_."

And for once, the false name didn't irk her the way that it usually did. In fact, it excited Rose to know that even though the Doctor now knew her true name, he was keeping it to himself - a shared secret, just between the two of them. She grinned up at the mischievous twinkle in his eyes and sent out a silent prayer to the universe in hopes that maybe this time her happily-ever-after would actually _last_.

The Doctor was leaning so close to her now that Rose was beginning to wonder if he was actually going to just bend down and snog her right there against the side of his police box in broad daylight when a shrill, female scream suddenly rang out across the cobblestones around them. Both of them immediately glanced in the direction of the impending mystery and then flashed each other wide smiles out of the corners of their eyes.

"Impressed yet?" the Doctor muttered under his breath.

"Not yet," Rose teased. "Show me more."

He grabbed her hand with a wild smile and they were off without another word.

\--------------------

"Doctor and Mrs. Smith," Mrs. Gillyflower greeted them warmly. "Oh, yes, you'll do very nicely."

"Oh, grand. Smashing!" the Doctor exclaimed in a forced accent as he folded his hands behind his back and bounced joyfully on the balls of his feet. "Eh, the missus and I couldn't be more chuffed, could we, love?" He threw an arm around Rose's shoulders, pulling her tight to him as he smiled down at her in excitement.

Rose tilted her head towards the strange old woman and flashed her a sweet smile, but as soon as Mrs. Gillyflower's back was turned, she raised a dubious brow in the Doctor's direction.

"'Mrs. Smith'?" she hissed under her breath. "Didn't think I had enough aliases already?"

"Oh, come on, it's a great name!" the Doctor whispered back, his hand squeezing her shoulder encouragingly. "Easy to remember, too."

"It's a bit ... _Bond_, if you ask me," Rose muttered as they both nodded towards Mrs. Gillyflower with matching fake smiles and allowed her to lead them off further into the utopian paradise that she had set up. "And since when is your go-to cover story _marriage_? I remember back in the day when your one goal was to convince other people that we _weren't_ a couple."

"Yes, yes, that was a long time ago," the Doctor replied, waving his hand at her dismissively. "I was young and restless, didn't want to be tied down."

"You were _nine-hundred-and-one_," Rose hissed through her teeth, shaking his arm off from around her shoulders so that she could tuck her hands primly against his elbow. "Love the voice, by the way," she whispered. "Miss the northern accent sometimes."

"Yes, and I miss the blonde hair every now and then, but you don't hear me going on about it," the Doctor grumbled under his breath.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rose demanded, her smile instantly falling away as she stared up at him with a mixture of surprise and hurt. "Have you got a problem with my new face?" The new face that she had taken on specifically so that she could be here with _him_, she thought bitterly.

"Oh, I _certainly_ didn't say that," the Doctor replied, giving her a very pointed, appreciative once-over as he let his hand reach up to cover hers against his arm. Rose couldn't help but grin at his sly smile as he managed to instantly settle her self-conscious doubts.

Mrs. Gillyflower finally interrupted them, then, as she turned to see that they had fallen a good distance behind her. "It's always the same with you newlyweds," she called back to them good-naturedly. "You get so distracted by one another that you forget that you leave an old woman waiting."

"Oh, we're not newlyweds," the Doctor replied as he lengthened his stride to catch up with their hostess. "Just have a lot of catching up to do."

The elderly woman looked between the two of them with a lost expression, to which Rose piped up helpfully, "It's complicated."

Mrs. Gillyflower smiled and shook her head at them as she replied, "Well, nothing is complicated in Sweetville! In fact, I think you'll find very soon that you won't have to worry about a thing ever again."

But then she proceeded to show them into a room where she had people propped up like dolls beneath giant glass domes and things suddenly got just that much more _complicated_.

\--------------------

Rose came to in waves after she had somehow managed to survive Mrs. Gillyflower's strange preservation and containment process. She could hear voices talking around her, but her clouded mind couldn't quite seem to make sense of what they were saying.

"I know who you think she is, but she isn't."

"I was right, then. You and Clara have unfinished business!"

The world tilted then, and Rose finally blinked open her eyes as she stumbled forward and fell into the Doctor's waiting arms.

"Hello, stranger," he murmured gently as she blinked hard in an attempt to force her eyes to focus.

He was smiling down at her and with her thoughts still hazy and her inhibitions limited, Rose wasn't able to fight the urge to reach out and run her fingers clumsily over his lips. "Doctor ..." she hummed pleasantly, her own smile unfocused and goofy as she looked up at him through slightly hooded eyes.

The Doctor smirked against her fingertips as he shifted his grip on her and attempted to center her back on her own two feet again. "_Clara,_" he whispered back, raising his eyebrows at her pointedly as though to make sure that she remembered that she had a new name and a role to play.

As Rose looked over his shoulder and her thoughts slowly fell back into alignment, she realized why he was being so cautious - they weren't alone. "Hi," she muttered awkwardly, staring up at the reptilian woman and her human counterpart standing just behind the Doctor. They looked familiar, but in her dazed state, Rose couldn't quite place where she knew them from. "What's going on?" she asked, turning back to the Doctor questioningly.

"Oh, haven't you heard, love?" he replied, throwing on his fake accent once more as he smiled down at her with affection. "There's trouble at the mill."

When Rose did nothing but continue to blink up at him without even a hint of comprehension, he threw his thumb over his shoulder in the direction of their companions and whispered, "She's a lizard."

"Yes, I can see that," Rose muttered sardonically as she finally forced herself to step out of the Doctor's supportive embrace. "But I'm almost certain that's not how she prefers to be introduced."

She stepped past the Doctor without another word and smiled brightly at the two women watching them, sticking out her hand in polite greeting. "Hello, let's try this again. I'm Clara," she introduced herself, not even pausing or stumbling over her fake name. "I'm sorry about him," she added, rolling her eyes in the Doctor's direction. "He's rubbish with introductions."

Rose's memories were slowly falling back into place once more and she realized suddenly that she recognized the two strangers from the Bad Wolf's trial run at Christmas. The human woman was the one to finally step forward and take Rose's hand, but even if Rose hadn't already seen the two women in action against the snowmen, it was easy to tell that the reptilian one was the mistress of the household - it was clear in the way that she carried herself.

"It's nice to meet you, Miss. Clara," the human woman replied with a nervous smile. "I'm Jenny, and this is Madame Vastra."

"Right!" Rose said, smiling cheerily as Vastra silently and suspiciously eyed her up and down. "It's nice to meet you both." Rose figured that it would be easier to pretend for now that she didn't know who they were, and let the Doctor decide what information was safe to divulge later.

"But Doctor, I don't understand ..." Madame Vastra muttered as she slid her weary gaze towards the Doctor.

"Yeah? Me, neither," the Doctor agreed breezily. "Nothing new, really - just try to make it up as I go along, mostly. Speaking of which, there's a crazy old lady dunking young, attractive humans into magic red slime. Anyone wanna take a crack at that one?"

Madame Vastra rolled her eyes in a long-suffering gesture that Rose knew only too well from her own personal use, and motioned for them to follow her further down the hallway. "This way," she instructed them hastily. "I think I might just know what's behind all of this ..."

\--------------------

After the leech from the dawn of time had been destroyed and Sweetville's factory had been shut down for good, the Doctor seemed eager to get Rose back into the TARDIS where he could conceal her from his other companions and their probing, curious gazes.

"Right, London! We were heading for London, weren't we?" he asked as he busily steered Rose away from Jenny, Vastra, and Strax and pointedly placed himself between her and their prying eyes.

"Was there any particular reason?" Rose asked, patiently allowing herself to be corralled back towards his time ship.

"No! No, just thought you might ... like it," the Doctor replied sheepishly, flashing her a nervous smile.

Rose narrowed her eyes on him in suspicion, but she nodded slowly and stepped obediently through the TARDIS doors all the same. "Don't be too long," she whispered under her breath as she flashed the Doctor a parting wink.

"You're the boss," he shrugged dismissively.

"Am I ...?" she asked, smiling suggestively in his direction.

The Doctor chuckled as he flashed her a wide grin, shoving his hands back into his pockets as he walked backwards away from her towards where the rest of their companions stood waiting. "'Course you are," he replied quietly. "Never been able to say no to you, have I?"

Rose smiled at him as he raised his eyebrows at her and then spun on his heel to make their final excuses and farewells. He didn't take long at all and Rose couldn't help but feel a little guilty for leaving Jenny, Vastra, and Strax in the dark, but she knew that until more could be known about her current situation, it was probably best to limit the knowledge of her true existence as much as possible.

"So are we really going back to London?" Rose asked curiously as she rounded the console and watched the Doctor set their next destination.

He whipped off his period bowler hat and spun it wildly off into one of the surrounding balconies before roughly scrubbing his hands through his hair as he spun to face her. "Sure! Why not?" he exclaimed as he flashed her a wide smile. "Figured we'd check up on our dear Clara and the little life that she left behind, what do you say?

"I suppose so ..." Rose replied slowly, frowning slightly at the console controls as she thought back to the small, unfamiliar house and the strange family that she had left behind. Why had the Bad Wolf placed her there in the first place? Who _were_ those people? Just how far did this alias go?

"We don't have to, you know," the Doctor reminded her after a few moments of watching her deflated expression. "We've got whole universes to see - all of it out there, just waiting for you, Rose Tyler."

Rose flashed him a winning smile, wondering what she had ever done to deserve such a fantastic, impossible man in her life. "London it is, then," she agreed, nodding at him with firm approval. "Domestics first, then you can show me the stars."

The Doctor grinned and offered her a mock salute before yanking hard on the dematerialization lever and sending them whirling back to the present day.


	15. Chapter Fifteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is mostly just exposition to the Maitland family (who will be making more appearances in this fic than in canon), but I tried to make it as interesting as possible with some classic Doctor Who banter. Hope you don't mind the small break from adventures and/or fluff!

The Doctor parked the TARDIS on the sidewalk right outside of Clara's house, exactly where he had been the last time that he had come searching for her. Rose stepped out of his ship timidly, staring up at the simple building as though it were some sort of dangerous, terrifying thing.

"Oh, that's new," the Doctor muttered ominously from behind her.

"What's that?" Rose asked, looking back over her shoulder to see him leaning against the console with his arms crossed across his chest and an amused expression on his face.

"Oh, nothing," he replied breezily. "Just never seen you hesitated like that before. Honestly didn't even know that you had it in you." The Doctor pushed himself off of the console and uncrossed his arms as he lazily sauntered up to join her in the TARDIS doorway. "What's the matter, Rose Tyler?" he whispered conspiratorially. "Afraid of a little, old house?"

"I'm not _afraid_ of anything," Rose replied stubbornly, leveling a glare on him that had no real ire to it. "Done a whole lifetime of domestics, me, I think I know my way around a simple house. I was just worried about _you_."

"Ah, considerate as always," the Doctor chuckled as he gently brushed past her and then narrowed his eyes on their current objective.

"I read up on the Maitland family before, when I was looking into _Clara Oswald_," the Doctor explained simply as he cautiously eyed both sides of the quiet, suburban street and took careful note of every detail. "Seems normal enough. George, Angie, and Artie - a basic, twenty-first century family. No idea how Clara fits into it, though."

"Well, let's go and find out, then, shall we?" Rose prompted, stretching her hand out into the space between them and wiggling her fingers tantalizingly in the Doctor's direction.

He grinned as he easily slipped his hand into hers and then dragged her quickly up to the front door. He paused awkwardly on the front stoop, however, as he shot her a nervous look out of the corner of his eye. "Have you got a key?" he asked curiously.

"Don't think so," Rose muttered after a moment of speculation. "Not on me, at least." She had taken very little with her from the house when she had originally left it in order to chase after the Doctor. She was relatively certain that she would have found a key by now if there were any keys to be found in the small bag that she had grabbed hastily on her way out.

"Do we ... knock?" the Doctor asked slowly, eyeing the closed door as though it were some new sort of alien species that he had never encountered before and couldn't quite decide if it was peaceful or hostile.

Rose shook her head at him and leaned forward to rap her knuckles against the mottled glass door as she flashed the Doctor a deeply sarcastic look. "How did you _ever_ get on without me?" she asked teasingly.

"No idea," the Doctor chuckled good-naturedly. "Never quite caught on to the domestic approach, me."

"Oi!" Rose protested, but her argument was interrupted as the door opened and a tall, middle-aged man greeted them.

"Oh! Clara," the stranger muttered, staring out at the two of them with a healthy dose of confused concern written on his features. "You were gone a while this time. What have you been up to?" The man - George, if the Doctor's information was to be believed - flashed the Doctor a guarded glance as he added, "Is this the boyfriend that I've heard so much about?"

"_Boyfriend_?" Rose repeated questioningly at the same time that the Doctor muttered a startled, "Eh?" and instantly dropped her hand to reach up and nervously straighten his bowtie.

"I didn't believe Angie at first," George went on with a casual shrug. "You know how she likes to talk, sometimes. But I should have known it was the truth when Artie started in on it, too."

"Who told you about me?" the Doctor demanded, his expression getting dangerously close to the Oncoming Storm as he openly glared at the other man. "What have you heard? Tell me everything."

"Alright, now, hush, dear," Rose murmured soothingly, tugging on the Doctor's sleeve to catch his attention, but not breaking her gaze from George as she offered him a cheery smile. "Sorry about him," she muttered, rolling her eyes in the Doctor's direction. "He just doesn't get out much. Bit awkward in social situations. We were just in the neighborhood and thought we'd pop by for a visit! How've you been? Sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye before I left ..."

"No harm done," George assured her, waving dismissively with one hand and gesturing them forward into the house with the other. "I know how you like to disappear, though I have to admit that a note every now and then would make us worry much less."

"Right, sorry," Rose apologized sweetly as she grabbed the Doctor's arm and drug him across the threshold behind her. He was still eyeing George wearily, but now he was assessing the inside of the house as well, carefully checking for any changes since the last time he had visited.

"You came at the perfect time," George went on conversationally as he led them through to the kitchen. "Angie and Artie are both home, we were planning on staying in for the day. You should join us for lunch! And your boyfriend, too, of course. I'm sorry, what was your name ...?"

"The Doctor," he answered coolly.

"'The Doctor'?" George repeated in confusion, flashing Rose a dubious look. "Doctor _who_?"

Rose watched in amusement as the Doctor's hard glare slowly melted into an expression of pleased smugness. He grinned at Rose and raised his eyebrows as he pointed in George's direction. "Ah, there, you see?" he muttered conspiratorially. "Good, isn't it?"

"Sorry?" George asked, looking between them curiously.

"Say it again," the Doctor prompted, smiling eagerly in the other man's direction once more. "Go on, ask the question again."

"Doctor ... who?" George repeated dubiously.

"Okay, just once more," the Doctor prodded, closing his eyes with an odd, blissful expression.

"Doctor who?" George huffed for a third time, growing visibly irritated as his confused smile finally fell into an annoyed frown.

"Alright, dear, I think that's enough," Rose finally cut in, raising her brows at the Doctor in a pointed look. "Sorry," she apologized again, flashing George a small smile. "Like I said, it's been a while since he's been around other people. He's come to fancy his own voice just a bit too much. Tends to go on a bit - never really knows when to stop. Also doesn't know how to _take a hint_." Rose ended her sentence speaking through clenched teeth as she glared openly at the Doctor, who's attention had been caught by a large fern growing in the window and was currently reaching towards one of the green fronds, mouthing hanging open, ready to lick it.

"Where did you two meet, exactly?" George asked, his gaze turning suspicious as he glanced from the Doctor to Rose and back again.

"Long story," the Doctor replied before Rose could open her mouth and attempt to formulate a lie. "And we're sorry, but we can't stay for lunch. We're here on business."

"'Business'?" George asked, raising a brow in Rose's direction. "What do you mean 'business'? What sort of business could you have out here?"

"The Doctor had some work he was doing in the area," Rose explained hastily. "He does ... landscaping. Yes, _landscaping_," she insisted as the Doctor turned an irritated scowl in her direction. "Which also explains his blue tool shed out front. He was working a job nearby so we thought it would be nice to just stop by and say hello, make sure that the kids are alright, that sort of thing."

"They miss you, you know," George muttered ruefully as he turned to a steaming kettle that he had evidently abandoned on the kitchen counter when they had interrupted him. "Angie would never admit it out loud, of course, but they both do. The next time you're in town you should take them out somewhere, spend some time together."

"Sounds brilliant!" the Doctor agreed enthusiastically, a wide smile suddenly stretching over his features. "Where are the children, by the way? I'd love to meet them, maybe get to know them, ask a few questions, perhaps even take a few blood samples ..."

"The Doctor loves kids," Rose interrupted, speaking loudly over the end of his sentence as she saw George's eyes beginning to widen with fearful concern. "That's actually how we met! He ... used to be a nanny, too."

Rose bit her lip and silently prayed that her assessment of the situation was correct. _Whoever_ Clara Oswald was, she obviously wasn't a blood relative of the Maitland family, and she clearly wasn't a mere neighbor, either - so that meant that she had to be either a hired employee or a family friend, perhaps even both.

"The ... landscaper used to be a _nanny_?" George asked slowly, narrowing his eyes at both of them again. Rose noticed that he hadn't contradicted her assumptive claim to be his own hired nanny, and she couldn't help but feel a bit proud of the fact that she had been able to work out the pieces on her own from what little evidence she had acquired.

"Oh, you know - I do a bit of this, bit of that," the Doctor replied casually, gesturing wildly with his hands once more. "I'm a dabbler, I dabble. Ooh, love that word!" he muttered under his breath as an aside to Rose. "_Dabble_. Brilliant word, that, I should use it more often."

They were saved from having to make up any more ridiculous lies as a young boy suddenly entered the kitchen, his nose buried deep in a book with a plain, dark red cover.

"Artie, look who's back!" George announced, smiling widely as his son finally glanced up and laid eyes on Rose.

"Clara!" the young boy exclaimed, instantly breaking into a bright smile. "It's been so _boring_ while you've been away! Where did you go this time?"

"You ... wouldn't believe me if I told you," Rose replied awkwardly.

"Are you staying for long this time? Are you going to take us on an adventure?" Artie asked eagerly.

"Yes! Of course!" the Doctor exclaimed before Rose could reply. "I've already got one planned - a fantastic adventure! We'll go as soon as you answer some questions."

"We'll what?" Rose demanded at the same time that Artie leaned forward curiously and asked, "What kind of questions?"

"Well, first question is a pretty simple one," the Doctor replied breezily. "My first question is - what is that?"

Rose, George, and Artie followed the line of the Doctor's pointed finger to a small laptop sitting on the kitchen table with the screen lit up and filled with old, antique photographs.

"It's a ... laptop," Artie replied slowly, flashing the Doctor a look that suggested that he thought that he was being quite ridiculous.

"Yes, yes, I know _that_," the Doctor huffed with a roll of his eyes. He stepped closer to the said device so that he could point again, this time putting his finger right up against the glass screen as he tapped the images of the old, yellowed pictures. "I meant _these_. What are these?"

"They're pictures I found at school," Artie explained simply. "I was showing them to Dad - he doesn't think they're real."

"Doctor ..." Rose piped up, staring at the lit up laptop screen with wide-eyed shock. "How ... how is that possible?"

"Where did you find them?" the Doctor demanded, seeming to ignore Rose's question as she stepped closer to him to peer at the images that lined the small screen. Laid out in front of her was a small collage of photographs from varying centuries, and yet they all shared one common trait - they were all pictures of _her_. Well, pictures of her and the Doctor, more specifically - most of them from their recent adventures and very clearly (and impossibly) authentic.

"I found them in all sorts of different places," Artie replied with a shrug. "Some were online, some were in history books. One was an old Polaroid tucked into one of my notebooks. Don't know how it got there, but it's definitely you."

"I've been trying to convince him that it's just nonsense," George muttered exasperatedly as Rose reached out and traced the outline of her own face in full-on nineteenth-century London attire. "It's Photoshop, isn't it? Or something like that. It's got to be."

"Nah, I reckon they're real." Rose blinked and looked up from the impossible pictures to see that the same teenage girl who she had met on her first day in this universe had joined them without anybody noticing. The girl was leaning against the doorframe to the kitchen with a knowing smirk on her features as she watched Rose's wide-eyed reaction.

"Look at her face," Angie insisted. "She's as surprised to see them as we were. She had no idea that the photos were being taken."

"Clever," the Doctor murmured, snapping his fingers and pointing them rudely into Angie's face. "This one's clever. She's _definitely_ coming along."

"Coming along _where_?" Angie asked snidely, turning up her nose at the Doctor as she slowly looked him up and down.

"On our next adventure!" the Doctor exclaimed simply. "What do you say, eh? Fun-filled outing? You two, me, and the nanny? Tell you what, I've been saving this one for a rainy day, but I think it's finally time that we visit the _Spacey Zoomer_ ride! Eh? Sound like fun?"

"Just be back by dinner," George muttered wearily, already waving his hand at them dismissively and turning back to his cup of tea. Clearly, these "adventure"-outings were just another odd memory that the Bad Wolf had instilled in these people, though Rose couldn't for the life of her figure out _why_.

"Clara, your boyfriend is _weird_," Angie sighed with a roll of her eyes.

"Weird is fine," Artie commented cheerfully.

"No, weird is _cool_," the Doctor amended as he flashed them all a wide smile and then darted back out the front door once more, not even waiting to see if any of them would actually be brave enough to follow him.


	16. Chapter Sixteen

"I don't like this, Doctor," Rose murmured nervously as she watched the two Maitland children dashing about the steps and balconies of the new TARDIS console room. "We don't even really know who these kids _are_! What if something happens to them?"

"Nothing's going to happen to them," the Doctor assured her with a small wave of his hands. "We're going to an amusement park in space! What could possibly go wrong?"

Rose turned and raised her eyebrow at him in a pointed look and the smile quickly dissipated from the Doctor's face as he rolled his eyes at her. "Yes, alright, I know I've said that before. But this time will be different!" he insisted eagerly.

"And what happened to finding answers about _Clara_?" Rose asked, making sure to keep her voice down to a whisper as the children continued to dart around them in wide-eyed wonder. "I thought we came back to Earth to do some research and investigation."

"We've got two key subjects, right here in the TARDIS!" the Doctor explained, gesturing grandly in Angie and Artie's direction. "We'll just take them out for a fun day at the park, let them ride a few rides, and subtly find out what they know."

"Yeah, you know I've actually seen your interrogations before, Doctor," Rose reminded him pointedly. "I don't think '_subtle_' is the word that I would use ..."

"Hey, is this the Spacey Zoomer ride you were talking about?" Artie called over to them, instantly interrupting their conversation as he raced down a set of stairs and peered curiously into one of the TARDIS hallways.

"Nah, this is just the shuttle to get us there!" the Doctor called back eagerly, pointedly ignoring Rose's lack of faith in his plan as he darted forward and began pulling dials and levers on the center console.

"_This_ is a shuttle?" Angie asked dubiously, eyeing the glowing time rotor with suspicion.

"Well, no, not really," the Doctor agreed with a shrug as he continued entering in their destination and preparing the ship for dematerialization. "But just for today, yes! Let's call it a shuttle!"

"It's a time machine, isn't it?" Angie asked, flashing Rose that knowing smirk once more. "That's how you ended up in all of those pictures. You've been traveling around in time with your ... _professor_."

"'_Professor_'?" the Doctor repeated, throwing Rose a look of disgust from across the center console. "I thought I was your boyfriend?"

"Are you?" Rose shot back teasingly, deciding not to be too concerned about Angie's keen perceptiveness since the Doctor didn't seem to be paying it any mind for the time being.

"It's better than _professor_," the Doctor grumbled under his breath as he finished setting the final coordinates. "Now," he added loudly, addressing the children, "hold on tight." He grinned broadly at Rose before he flipped the dematerialization lever. "Geronimo," he muttered gleefully.

Both of the children shouted in terrified delight as the TARDIS whirled and whirred around them, spinning them off towards whatever destination the Doctor had chosen for their adventure that day.

\--------------------

Unfortunately, the Doctor's attempt at a child-friendly, simple space adventure quickly ended in disaster as a full-scale cyberman attack suddenly closed in around them on all sides. The imposing metal army took Angie and Artie first, leaving Rose feeling helplessly and dangerously out of her depth.

What would happen if the cybermen did something to them? What would happen if she were never able to get them back? What would she tell George, waiting patiently back at home for them to return form their fun, friendly outing with the landscaper/nanny? Rose realized with a sinking sense that - whether she liked it or not - she was _responsible_ for these children, and she felt horribly guilty for allowing them out of her sight for even a moment.

When she finally found the Doctor again, she was elated to see that he had Angie and Artie with him, but terrified to notice that they all now had strange, silver wiring covering the left sides of their faces. The Doctor seemed to be the only one in his right mind (for now) - and Rose suspected that it had something to do with the small strip of gold paper that was hanging loosely off of his cheek.

"I'll explain later, in a bit of a hurry," the Doctor assured her breezily. "Get me to a table, and somebody tie me up! Need hands free for chess." He smiled confidently in her direction and Rose recognized the expression as his go-to Doctor-look for whenever he was attempting to stay positive in the wake of crushing disaster. "And immobilize me. Quickly," he added ominously.

Rose and the few soldiers who had taken to following her command after the Doctor had named her acting captain of the planet's punishment platoon did as he instructed and set up his chess board in the throne room that they had found in the fake castle that they had taken up residence in.

"Right, that's good. I won't be able to move, but hands free. Good," the Doctor exclaimed as he squirmed against the ropes that Rose had wrapped tight around his middle and then flexed his arms experimentally.

"Are you going to tell me the plan, now, Doctor?" Rose muttered as she clapped her hands on his shoulders and leaned her head in close to the non-cyber side of his face. "What's with the chess board?" she whispered conspiratorially.

"Playing the Cyberplanner," the Doctor replied cryptically, tapping a knowing finger to the silver wiring against his left temple, "and winning!" Without warning, he ripped the strip of gold off of his cheek and his whole body jolted as he leaned heavily against the table before him.

"Doctor?" Rose asked nervously as she watched the tense set of his shoulders.

"Actually ... he has no better than a twenty-five percent chance of winning at this stage of the game," he muttered, his tone low and dangerous as he took on a strange (yet oddly _familiar_) Northern accent. "Some _very_ dodgy moves at the beginning. Hello, flesh girl. Fantastic! I'm the Cyberplanner."

His eerie words immediately sent a chill up her spine and Rose stepped forward slowly to get a better look at his expression. The Doctor sneered up at her with a look that she had never seen on any face of his in all the time that she had ever known him and it instantly sent a stab of fear deep into her heart.

"What did you do to the Doctor?" she asked breathlessly as she leveled her gaze on the man before her.

"Ha!" he chuckled darkly. "Clever one, isn't she? 'Course that's probably why you picked her. Ooh, but there's something of the _Wolf_ about you, my dear. Allons-y!"

The familiar words spoken in the right tone of voice but paired with the wrong face was disorientating enough without adding the Cyberplanner's acidic, dangerous glare into the mix. Rose blinked at him in open-mouthed shock as her heart threatened to beat out of her chest. Her hands curled into tight fists at her side and she fought to keep herself as steady as possible as she forced herself to meet the man's poisonous gaze.

"Stop it," she murmured quietly, unable to manage much else as her old hurt for the previous incarnations of the Doctor who she had loved and lost resurfaced within her mind.

"Oh, come now, that was me attempting to be considerate," the Cyberplanner sneered up at her, his feral grin making her shiver. "I was trying to give you a taste of something familiar. Or have you decided to trade in the old models for the new? Frankly, I don't see the appeal."

"Stop it!" Rose repeated, her voice rising and becoming hard as steel as she leveled her own glare on the Cyberplanner's familiar green eyes.

"Oh, but you know all about new models, don't you girl?" he continued as though she hadn't spoken. "Ah, but that which we call a _rose_ by any other name would smell as sweet ..."

"Stop!" Rose shouted, her voice ringing through the room around them as another powerful bolt of fear and adrenaline shot through her. She could feel the confused stares from the soldiers standing at her back as the Cyberplanner began hinting none-too-subtly at her true identity. How could he possibly _know_ all of this?

"Oh, but he's had some cowboys in here!" the Cyberplanner went on eagerly, his own voice rising as his eyes glinted up at her in a look of pure, manic glee. "My, my, Miss. _Clara_, for shame," he paused to make a disappointed clicking sound with his tongue as he shook his head at her, "carrying on with a _married man_ like that. What would your late husband say?"

Ice immediately flooded Rose's veins at the mention of marriage. The Cyberplanner somehow knew her name, knew about the Bad Wolf, knew about her husband, knew about the Doctor's past selves - but how could she possibly accept that _this_ was true? Surely one hundred years wasn't enough to change the Doctor _that_ much. There was no ring on his finger (though for him, that didn't mean much), but more than that, Rose knew for _certain_ that he hadn't telepathically bonded with anyone. Her own mind's desperate attempt to reach out to him and complete her severed link was proof enough of that. She would have _known_ if he had been married ...

"You don't know what you're talking about," Rose insisted stubbornly, staring down her nose at the creature wearing the Doctor's face in wary disbelief.

"No? Let's ask him ourselves, shall we?" the Cyberplanner muttered darkly. "Oh, Mr. Tyler ..." His tone took on a lilting, sing-song quality as he pretended to call out to her husband (who had _not_ gone by the name Tyler, but they both knew that the Cyberplanner was using the name now simply for effect).

However, Rose had heard quite enough, and with this last hateful barb sitting heavy in her heart, she drew her hand back and slapped the Doctor hard across the face, the skin of her palm stinging where it scraped against the metal implants on his cheek.

"Argh! Ow!" the Doctor cried, tentatively raising his hand to the left side of his face in shocked defense. "Oh, that hurt! No, stop! Enough! Bit of pain, neural surge, just what I needed, thank you."

"Doctor ..." Rose muttered quietly, her eyes staring down at him with intensity as she fought to remind herself that it was really _him_ this time and _not_ the hateful Cyberplanner, "what are the stakes? What are you playing for?"

The Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes, explaining quickly as though he knew that time was running out. "If he wins, I give up my mind and he gets access to all my memories - along with knowledge of time travel. _But_, if _I_ win, he'll break his promises to get out of my head and then ... kill us all anyway."

"Doctor, the children," Rose reminded him pointedly, closing her eyes briefly in frustration as she gritted her teeth together. She _knew_ that it had been a mistake to bring them along - now she held two innocent lives in her hands and the Doctor had a malicious entity trying to take over his mind. "Please tell me you can fix whatever's happened to them."

"Children," the Doctor repeated distractedly as he blinked up at her and tried to focus. "Yeah. They're fine. I mean, right now their brains are just in stand-by mode."

"I think we have varying definitions of 'fine'," Rose growled as she flashed him her best no-nonsense look.

"Listen!" the Doctor snapped, leaning forward and grabbing her nearest hand roughly with one of his. His touch immediately sent a nauseating feeling rolling through her stomach and Rose gasped at the strange sensation. It just felt ... _wrong_ in a way that she couldn't quite describe. No touch from the Doctor had _ever_ made her feel like this.

"Right now, they have a much better chance of getting out of this situation alive than you do," the Cyberplanner threatened her ominously.

Rose blinked at him twice and then forced herself to lean closer so that she could level her gaze directly with his. "You're in the Doctor's head," she reminded him slowly. "You can see everything in there. You know as well as I do that he's _never_ going to let anything happen to us."

The Cyberplanner chuckled low under his breath as he clapped his hands loudly and leaned away from her once more. "Oh dear, Doctor," he muttered as he slowly looked Rose up and down with a considering look. "I think you married the wrong blonde."

Before Rose could open her mouth to snap at him again, the Cyberplanner continued loudly, "Now, if you don't mind, I have a _chess game_ to finish, and _you_ have to die - _pointlessly_, and very far from home."

Rose simply glared down at him, refusing to reveal the fearful, panicked sensation that was currently making her heart beat out of control. The Doctor _would_ fix this - he _had_ to. She had seen him get out of worse scrapes than this, and she knew that if anyone could outsmart a supercomputer, it was the daft alien sitting before her now.

"Finish the game," she demanded coolly, not entirely sure who she was addressing at that moment. "Quickly."

"Toodle-oo," the Cyberplanner spat ominously as he reached for the black knight piece and the game continued.


	17. Chapter Seventeen

Rose had dedicated more than thirty years of her life to Torchwood back in Pete's World, and she had been forced to take command in more situations that she was able to count during her adventures traveling with the Doctor, but she still found the command and title of captain to be a weighty one all the same. The entire punishment platoon - what was _left_ of them, anyway - were suddenly looking to her for guidance and leadership. So soon after losing Angie and Artie to the cybermen, her confidence was shaken to say the least, and Rose felt as though she was now working twice as hard to keep everyone in the abandoned amusement park safe and alive.

She was finally taking what she thought to be a well-deserved break when all of a sudden a shouting voice echoed out from the throne room behind her. "Oi, Clara!" he (whoever _he_ was - Doctor or Cyberplanner) called loudly. At least he had continued to refer to her by the correct name while they were within earshot of the others.

"I'll see what he wants," Rose sighed wearily, flashing her current companion - a short, friendly man named Porridge - an exhausted smile as she set down the steaming mug that he had just offered her. "Call me if there's any change."

She returned to the throne room to find the Doctor in much the same state as she had left him. He greeted her with a wide smile that hinted at his true self, but Rose still approached him warily, making sure to keep a safe distance, all the same.

"Hey! Clara, there you are," he exclaimed happily. "Now, quick rundown - what's our weapons strength?"

"One big gun, five of those hand-pulser units, and a shiny black bomb that implodes the planet," she rattled off matter-of-factly as she flashed Angie and Artie a concerned look from where they stood along the edge of the room staring blankly at nothing.

"Yeah, yeah, that one!" the Doctor replied excitedly. "Now, tell me, does it happen possibly to have a remote triggery thing?"

Rose pulled said-trigger from her jacket pocket and waved it in his direction in silent response.

"Brilliant. Pass it here," he commanded, his eyes carefully tracking the movement of the long, black remote as it moved through the air before his face.

"No," Rose replied quickly, snatching the trigger back to her chest defensively.

"Why not?" the Doctor asked with a look of offense.

"Because," Rose replied simply. "I don't trust that you're _you_ right now."

"Oh, don't worry," the Doctor murmured reassuringly as he tapped a finger to his right temple. "The Cyberplanner's hibernating between moves right now." He had lowered his voice to a whisper and he held his finger to his lips as though to quiet Rose and keep her from waking the evil entity in his head.

Rose gave one condescending bark of laughter as she shook her head at the Cyberplanner's obvious attempt at a ruse. "You must really think we're stupid, don't you?" she muttered under her breath. She leveled a hard glare at him as she continued, "You're in the Doctor's head - you have access to all of his memories. That means that you know who I am."

Rose took an intimidating step closer as she narrowed her eyes on the Cyberplanner with a fierce snarl. "So don't _insult_ me," she snapped, her tone low and dangerous. "I've known the Doctor almost my entire life. I know that he would _never_ go along with the suicide plan - not as long as it endangered other people, anyway. So why don't you stop wasting all of our time and just get back to your little game? I think it's _your move_."

"Alright, skin bag, _fine_," the Cyberplanner sighed as he rolled his eyes dramatically in her direction. "You got me. But come on, '_Clara_' - don't you want to talk?" The obvious implied quotations around Rose's fake name made her hands clench into fists at her sides. "I have access to all of the Doctor's memories and emotions. Aren't you even the least bit _curious_? Wouldn't you like a peek?"

"No," Rose stated resolutely as she continued to glare at him. "I know everything that I need to know about the Doctor, and that's all that matters."

"Really?" the Cyberplanner sneered. "Are you _sure_? One hundred years is a long time to be apart, and you know how this one likes to get around ..."

Rose bit down roughly on the inside of her cheek as she wasted no more time and stepped forward to slap the Cyberplanner hard across the face again. Her hand stung form the impact, but that was nothing compared to the sting that she felt deep inside of her heart. She _would not_ allow herself to doubt the Doctor - not now, after so much time, and certainly not because some insane cybermind was attempting to cruelly toy with them both.

"Ow, ow, ow! Yes!" the Doctor cried as he came back to himself with a jolt and a smiled widely up at her. "It's me!" he exclaimed, pointing to his own face with a look of glee. His expression fell a moment later as he worked his jaw and his brow furrowed in consternation. "That really hurt," he grumbled.

"Doctor, how much longer is this going to take?" Rose asked, hoping that her tone sounded more authoritative than pleading as she leaned over the chessboard and met his eye. She wasn't sure how much more of the Cyberplanner's hateful, jeering remarks she could take - not to mention the fact that having to constantly slap the face of the man who she loved just to get him back into his right mind was wearing on her.

"Not long now ..." the Doctor began, but his words cut off on a cry as his left hand suddenly shot out and grabbed Rose roughly by the arm. She gasped as his fingers dug into her skin and she reflexively tried to shake him off.

"Doctor, what are you ...?" she asked nervously.

"It's not me!" the Doctor panted, grunting as he seemed to strain against himself. "He's got control of the left arm!"

"Doctor ..." Rose began, but her words ended on a sharp gasp as she suddenly felt a hard, vicious presence force its way into her head. She realized with a start that the Cyberplaner was using the Doctor's touch to reach into her mind and tear through her thoughts.

"Argh! No!" the Doctor shouted through gritted teeth. "Stop it, stop!"

"No! Doctor, make it stop!" Rose cried out desperately, yanking as hard as she could against his hold on her and putting up every mental shield that she could think of as she attempted to keep her wits about her. However, nothing that she did loosened the Cyberplanner's hold on her. As he clawed deeper into her mind, Rose felt as though she were being brutally torn apart from the inside out.

"Doctor, please! Please stop!" she begged, choking on a sob as she screwed her eyes shut tight and felt the pain of the Cyberplanner's violation penetrate deep into her consciousness.

Suddenly, her severed bond began to glow gold again and Rose gasped so hard that her throat stung, her eyes opening wide in fear as she dropped her gaze to the Doctor's strained, painful expression. "No! No, not that, please! Doctor, don't!" she shouted desperately. But the Cyberplanner had caught the spark of connection that flared between them and he was now chasing after it with tenacious glee. Rose could feel her knuckles going white and her neck straining as every part of her tried to scramble away from the Doctor's reach.

The bond was outside of Rose's control - it operated on pure instinct, and it reached for the Doctor's touch of its own accord. Nothing that Rose did could stop it from trying to connect with his mind, and with the Cyberplanner on the other end of the divide purposefully seeking her out, it just became that much more difficult to rein in the uncontrollable, subconscious part of her mind.

Just as Rose was beginning to feel her hold on her bond slipping, the Doctor suddenly cried out again and his grip on her arm shifted to the remote trigger that she still held tight in her hand. As soon as his fingers were around it, he ripped it from her grip and smashed it violently against the chessboard table - both of them watching in silent shock as the small device instantly broke into a hundred different pieces.

As soon as she was free, Rose stumbled away from the Doctor and used every last bit of her remaining energy to simply remain standing as she watched him. She was shaking uncontrollably and her breaths were coming in great, heaving gasps as the muscles in the Doctor's arm slowly relaxed and he regained control of himself once more.

"He got what he wanted," he panted breathlessly as he hunched over the table before him, refusing to meet her eye. "He destroyed the trigger. My move."

"What do you mean 'he got what he wanted'?" Rose asked, her voice little more than a rough whisper.

"He means," the Cyberplanner snarled as he glared up at her, "good news, boys and girls. They're here!"

\--------------------

Thankfully, Rose didn't have to interact with the Cyberplanner for a third time. When the encroaching cybermen legions began to slow to a halt before her, she knew instantly that the Doctor had managed to somehow stop him. When she finally got back to the throne room, his face was completely cleared of the abominable silver wiring and he was straightening his bowtie proudly as he grinned at her.

"Ah, hello," he greeted her and her soldiers exuberantly. "Can someone untie me, please?"

"Is he gone?" Rose muttered, narrowing her eyes at the Doctor carefully as she approached him. "Gone for good?"

The Doctor, who had been avoiding her eyes ever since the Cyberplanner had barreled his way through her thoughts and nearly forced the two of them into a permanent, telepathic bond, finally blinked up at her. "Gone for good," he agreed with a hesitant smile. "Out of my head and redistributed across three million cybermen right now - and about to wake them all up, kill us, and start constructing a spaceship. We need to destroy this planet before they can get off it."

His explanation was spoken in his usual, rapid-fire way as Rose carefully stepped forward and loosened the ropes wrapped around his middle. As soon as he was free enough to move, the Doctor was off and bounding away - onto the next stage of his plan to rescue them all. Thankfully, the children were back in their right minds as well, and Angie seemed to be just as clever as the Doctor had supposed that she might be. They all watched in fascination as the unlikely Porridge voice-activated the planet-destroying bomb and then teleported them all right into the throne room of the Emperor himself.

Rose was shocked to discover that she had been in the presence of a powerful monarch throughout the entire day without even realizing it, but she was even more surprised when the _Emperor_ \- defender of humanity and imperator of known space - suddenly got down on one knee before her and asked her to marry him. From over Porridge's shoulder, Rose could see the Doctor's look of startled alarm as he flinched uncomfortably at the unexpected question.

Rose, however, declined the Emperor's untimely proposal as gently as she could (despite Angie's protests), and she didn't miss the Doctor's small, relieved sigh as she did so, either (the daft idiot).

She still didn't allow herself to breathe a single sigh of relief, though - not until they were all safely back on the TARDIS with the burning remnants of Hedgewick's World securely sealed off behind them. If Rose Tyler never saw another cyberman as long as she lived, she knew that it would be too soon.

Still, the children bid her farewell with wide, beaming smiles and told her that they would be eagerly awaiting their next adventure with her professor/boyfriend. Rose waved goodbye to them with promises to return home soon, then promptly proceeded to make the Doctor swear to _never_ allow the children back onboard the TARDIS ever again.

"We didn't even find out any new information about Clara," Rose muttered ruefully as she and the Doctor watched the two kids bound up the steps and back into the safe familiarity of their home.

"Sure we did, I learned loads," the Doctor replied with a dismissive shrug. "She's a young, human woman from Earth who likes kids and adventures and baked goods and has a landscaper/nanny for a boyfriend."

"Fat lot of good that does us," Rose grumbled wearily under her breath.

The Doctor simply chuckled as he swept open the TARDIS doors for her, gesturing grandly towards the glowing time rotor in the center of the room. "Personally, I don't really _care_ much about our dear, Miss. Clara. I've got a few other things on my list that are much more important," he whispered conspiratorially as she moved past him into the ship and he flashed her a quick wink. "So why don't we leave her for another day? We'll get it all sorted eventually. It _is_ a time machine, after all."

And Rose knew that it really wouldn't do them any good to run away from the fake life that the Bad Wolf had left for her and to simply ignore the many lingering questions that surrounded her arrival into this world, but the Doctor's soft, inviting smile and deep green eyes told her everything that he didn't dare to speak out loud in that moment - that he couldn't care less about Clara Oswin Oswald, as long as Rose Tyler was at his side once more - and she decided that as long as they had a time machine at their disposal, they might as well put it to good use.


	18. Chapter Eighteen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which the universe's own timeless flirt must answer for his crimes ...

"Thank you, Doctor," Rose muttered quietly as soon as he had finished piloting them back into the safety of the vortex, far away from Earth and the Maitlands and the strange, human life that she knew she was leaving behind.

"For what?" the Doctor asked, eyeing her from where he stood at her side with his arms crossed casually against his chest.

"Keeping the kids alive. Saving everyone from a cyberman invasion. You know - just generally doing what you do best," Rose listed matter-of-factly, smiling at him as she noticed him watching her carefully out of the corner of her eye. His own smile was soft and speculative as he silently nodded at her.

"You were always so good with kids," Rose continued breezily as she crossed her own arms and leaned her hip against the console next to him. "Used to make me a little jealous, you know. But it always did come in handy. Glad to see that hasn't changed."

The Doctor's smile grew wistful and his eyes took on an odd, dark quality as he turned his gaze slowly to the floor between his feet. "You never said ..." he muttered quietly. "Did you and he ...?"

Rose caught his meaning immediately and she shook her head slowly as she, too, turned her gaze to the floor. "No. Never quite seemed to work out," she replied with a shrug. "We never really did get to the bottom of it. Felt like we tried everything, though. But no matter what we did, it just ... never happened." She shook her head again as she admitted on a whisper, "I always felt bad about that ..."

"Why?" the Doctor asked, his attention immediately drawn back to her as he searched her expression intently.

"Because," Rose replied with a humorless breath of laughter, not daring to meet his eye as she confessed one of her oldest, deepest doubts to him. "You wanted kids, and I couldn't give them to you."

"Hey," the Doctor muttered, quietly chiding her. He turned so that he was facing her fully, his hands coming up and hesitating awkwardly for a moment before he finally drew her into a tense hug. "Hey, now. Don't say that. You know that that doesn't matter. You still had a life together. He still had _you_."

Rose slowly returned his embrace, wrapping her arms tight around his middle as she screwed her eyes shut and let her thoughts fill with memories of her husband. Standing this close, she could feel the Doctor just on the periphery of her mind, tentatively testing the edges of her thoughts as he wordlessly attempted to sort out the source of her current dark mood. Rose noticed that his own mind seemed to be just as weary as she felt, after their long day of fighting off hoards of cybermen and several mental attacks.

"Are you ... alright?" she asked slowly, her voice coming out somewhat muffled as she refused to step away from him and muttered her concern directly into his shoulder instead. "The Cyberplanner ... he didn't leave any lasting effects, did he?"

"Oh, not to worry. I've faired far worse than the likes of _him_ before," the Doctor muttered dismissively into her hair, but Rose didn't miss the way that his hands tightened reflexively around her ribs and he instantly shuttered his thoughts safely away from her once more.

"Doctor ..." she sighed wearily, not quite sure how to ask her next question, or even if she should. Did she really want to know the answer? "Those things that the Cyberplanner said ..."

The Doctor immediately went rigid in her arms, and Rose wasn't sure if the thought that crossed her mind next was his, or if she was simply insinuating from his tense body posture. _Don't ask, Rose. Please, don't ask ..._

"Doctor," she tried again, a bit more firmly. "He knew about the Bad Wolf. He knew about _me_. And he said ..."

But Rose didn't get to finish her thought, because the Doctor pulled away just far enough so that he could slant his lips against hers in a hard, desperate kiss - one hand firmly placed against the back of her neck to keep her from attempting to move away.

And the truth was that Rose really, _really_ didn't want to - but shame was burning hot in her gut and the last thing that she wanted was for him to sense it through their close proximity, so for the first time in her long, long life, Rose Tyler turned her head away and refused to reciprocate a kiss from the one man who she loved most in all of the universe.

She quickly shuttered her mind away from the sharp sting of hurt that swept through him and she stepped sideways out of his embrace so that she could be certain that he wouldn't be able to pick up on her answering wave of bitter regret.

The Doctor seemed to be frozen in time as Rose regarded him silently out of the corner of her eye, his hands still raised in the air before him and his eyes gazing longingly at the space that she had occupied just a few seconds prior.

"I'm ... sorry," Rose whispered lamely, her tone sounding choked and bitter to her own ears. She did her very best to keep all of the angry sarcasm out of her voice, but she wasn't sure if she succeeded as she added, "What would your _wife_ say?"

The sharp words broke the Doctor out of his trance and he heaved out a heavy breath of air as he let his hands fall to the TARDIS console in front of him and he hung his head down between his shoulders where Rose couldn't catch his expression. The fact that he didn't deny her claim or the Cyberplanner's words sent a stab of pain into Rose's heart and she fought desperately to convince herself that she was better than these petty jealousies. But nothing in her long life had ever quite prepared her for _this_ \- to have to share the Doctor's affections with another woman. As long as she had known the Doctor, it had only ever been just him and her. How foolish she was to have believed that it could ever possibly stay that way throughout his entire, extended lifespan.

"It's not what you think ..." the Doctor muttered slowly, his voice rough as he continued to keep his face turned away from her and his body hunched over in one long line of tension.

"It's okay, Doctor," Rose insisted, fighting to convince both herself as well as him. "I understand."

"No!" the Doctor shouted, his voice ringing off of the silent metal surfaces around them and making Rose startle in surprise at the loud, sudden noise. "It's not okay. It's not even ... _remotely_ okay!"

"Doctor ..." Rose murmured reassuringly in an attempt to calm him down, but her words only seemed to make him angrier, and he spun around to level a wild, bitter glare at her.

"No!" he shouted again. "Because, you see, it's been so long, Rose. It's been so, _so_ long, and I thought ... You were gone and everything was just _wrong_ for the longest time. I kept expecting things to go back to normal, but they never did. So I just thought ... well, maybe _normal_ wasn't going to be an option any more. So I started coping with what I had, you see. I made a life as best I knew how. I kept moving, kept doing what I always did - kept saving people and worlds and civilizations, thinking that maybe if I just _pretended_ that everything was alright, then maybe it would actually start to _feel_ that way. And then I met ... _her_ ..."

And the fact that he couldn't even manage to speak her name out loud in that moment broke both Rose's heart and her resolve. She rushed forward to where the Doctor was fidgeting in place and immediately erased all of the distance that she had put between them by throwing her arms around his shoulders and pressing her face against his neck.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled into his shoulder. "I didn't mean ... I didn't think ..."

The Doctor silenced her stuttering words as he brought his own arms tight around her and held her close. She could feel his misery as her own, even though he attempted to shield her from it, and Rose hated to think that she may have been the one to put it there, with her own insecure doubts.

"Tell me about her," Rose offered gently, her voice a mere whisper as she ran a comforting hand through the thick hair on the back of his head.

The Doctor heaved another sigh, his chest rising and falling beneath her and his breath ghosting across the back of her neck and ruffling her long, dark hair.

"Her name is River," the Doctor replied, speaking her name the same way that he had always spoken her own - like it was a secret that he had to keep hidden from the rest of the world. Rose also didn't miss the fact that he referred to her in the present tense, either - as in, he still spent time with her on occasion.

"How'd you meet?" Rose prodded him, hoping that he would feel better for opening up and also wanting to sate her own curiosity.

"It's ... complicated," the Doctor replied haltingly, to which Rose let out a startled breath of laughter.

"Why is it always the way with you?" she chided him teasingly.

"Our timelines are in the wrong order," the Doctor continued as though she hadn't spoken. "We're all back-to-front with one another. Every time I see her, I know her more, and she knows me less. The first time we ever met, she ... died."

Rose sighed gently as she gave the Doctor a reassuring squeeze and continued to hold him close. "Oh, Doctor," she murmured quietly. "I'm so sorry."

She could feel the next question just on the tip of her tongue, but she hesitated for a long moment before finally allowing herself to speak it out loud. She knew that it might hurt either or both of them to have the truth revealed completely, but she also knew that it was better to get it all out in the open now rather than wait until later. If there was one thing that she had learned from her previous travels with the Doctor, it was that.

"Is that why you're ..." Rose started awkwardly.

"Is that why I'm what?" the Doctor questioned after she paused to put order to her thoughts and her words.

"Is that why you're not ... bonded?"

The Doctor tightened his hold around Rose's middle once more as he buried his nose in her neck and simply breathed for a few moments. "No," he finally whispered quietly against her skin. "No, that's not why. The two of us ... we don't do that."

"How can you be so sure?" Rose insisted hesitantly.

"Because I've already seen her end," the Doctor replied, his voice matter-of-fact but still gentle. "I saw River at the end of her timeline right before she died. She knew my name - whispered it into my ear - but there was no connection there, I would have sensed it if there were. If she didn't have a bond then, then that means that it's never going to happen."

"Then ... you're _not_ married ..." Rose muttered haltingly as she attempted to fit all of the pieces of information together in her head.

"Like I said ..."

"It's complicated," Rose finished for him, quietly rolling her eyes where she knew that he wouldn't be able to see her.

"So all that's already happened for you, then, yeah?" she went on, attempting to steer the conversation back in a direction that she could easily comprehend. "Whatever ... _complicated_ marriage you had, you've already experienced it."

"Yes," the Doctor replied, his voice little more than a whisper.

"So ... you love her, then," Rose continued, her tone coming out slightly cooler than she had intended as she tried for a calm statement of fact.

The Doctor tightened his grip on her once more as he murmured softly against her neck, "Yes."

And Rose really didn't know what to say to that, but she was less put out by the fact than she thought she might be. She was mostly just glad that he was telling her the truth - not trying to hide anything from her in this awkward, vulnerable moment between them. So Rose did the only thing that somehow felt right in that moment. She pressed a light kiss to his cheek and whispered, "I'm sorry," once more.

"Me, too," the Doctor agreed, a small, humorless laugh brushing across her neck as he pressed his lips to her skin in return.

"So why doesn't she travel with you?" Rose asked, finally stepping back slightly so that she could look the Doctor in the eye once more. With the truth laid out bare between them, she found that it was easier to meet his gaze. She lightly ran her hands across his dark jacket, dusting off his shoulders as she loosened her hold from around his neck and smiled sweetly up at him.

"River is ... different," the Doctor replied, his gaze hesitant as he watched her. "She's different in almost every way."

"But you still care for her deeply," Rose insisted, her tone, this time, coming out matter-of-fact rather than bitter.

The Doctor was silent for a moment as he simply looked down at her, his eyes going over every single one of Rose's new features as though he were trying to memorize them. He placed one hand against her cheek and sent her the silent thought that he couldn't quite force himself to speak out loud, not even now - _Not like I care for you._

And Rose knew that those six simple words shouldn't be able to please her as much as they did, but in that moment, it was all the reassurance that she needed to know that no matter who the Doctor was or who else was in his life, she was still a vital, integral part of it, and that was enough. It simply _had to be_ enough ...

The Doctor sealed his silent devotion with a gentle but firm kiss, and Rose finally felt the last of her jealous anger release as she sighed contentedly against his lips. Her severed bond was still there - glowing bright behind her eyelids like a supernova, spiraling in a million different directions and winding into endless possibilities - but she was able to keep the persistent mental link at bay as she lost herself in the Doctor's nearness.

He seemed to know on instinct the moment that it became too much for her, and he pulled back slightly, trailing kisses along her jaw and cheeks until the insatiable desire to connect with him abated and became a subdued, itching hum rather than a cacophony raging inside of her head.

"Any other women I need to know about?" Rose asked breathlessly in an attempt to lighten the mood and focus her dizzy, blissful thoughts.

The Doctor laughed, his breath ghosting across the skin of her face as he quietly murmured, "There _was_ this one girl I used to travel with ..." He remained close enough that she could feel his lips move against her cheek as he spoke - it was _terribly_ distracting. "Very pretty. Incredibly brilliant. _Fantastic_ kisser."

"Oh?" Rose asked, finding it very difficult to focus when she was so lost in the deep rumble of his voice and the feel of his hands in her hair. "How'd that end up?"

The Doctor returned his lips to hers, his mouth ghosting over her own as he spoke. "I'll let you know."


	19. Chapter Nineteen

Rose was dreaming - she knew that she was, she _had_ to be. And yet it was so far outside of anything that she had ever experienced before - and that was including all of the things that the Bad Wolf had put her through in her journey to get back to this universe.

She blinked hard in an attempt to ge ther eyes to focus as she glanced around at her new surroundings. The room she was in was dimly-lit and oddly hazy around the edges, but she was able to make out a large, darkly-painted, pentagon-shaped table just in front of her.

"So glad you could make it."

Rose blinked and suddenly she was staring into a delicate china teacup that was being offered to her from across the table. She followed the arm holding it up to a familiar, green face and she flashed Madame Vastra a confused look as she asked, "Where am I?"

"Exactly where you were, but sleeping," the woman to Vastra's right replied. Rose blinked again and suddenly she was looking into the familiar features of Jenny, who was smiling at her encouragingly from across the table.

"Time travel has always been possible in dreams," Vastra explained as she busily continued to go about making them all tea. "We are waiting only one more participant."

"Oh, no," a voice to Rose's left groaned. "Not the one with the _gigantic head_?" Rose smiled into her tea as she turned and immediately recognized the stocky, rounded features of Strax.

"It's _hair_, Strax," Jenny murmured with a roll of her eyes.

"_Hair_," he hissed with a disgusted sneer.

Suddenly, there was a puff of smoke to Rose's right and she blinked hard once more as she realized that the fifth chair at their table was suddenly occupied. This guest, too, she recognized immediately, and Rose silently berated herself for not catching on to Strax's strange, telling comment sooner.

"Madame Vastra," River drawled as she instantly laid eyes on their hostess.

"Professor," Vastra replied politely. "Help yourself to some tea."

But River seemed to have ideas of her own, and she called up for herself instead a glittering flute of champagne, complete with the rest of the bottle sitting in a bucket of ice just within reach. Jenny was the only one who seemed fascinated by the parlor trick. Vastra hid her look of disapproval in her own tea cup, Strax glared at her with an open look of confused disgust, and Rose stared hard at the table in front of her and wondered how she was _ever_ going to manage to play this off without the help of the Doctor.

She could already feel River watching her speculatively - her champagne instantly forgotten as she laid eyes on the young human girl to her left. Rose silently gritted her teeth and forced herself to meet the professor's curious gaze.

"Ah, perhaps you two haven't met," Vastra stepped in politely. "This is the Doctor's companion." She nodded to Rose as she introduced her, but then stuttered to a stop as River whipped her head around to stare at the reptilian woman n unrestrained surprise. "That is ... his current traveling assistant," she finished lamely.

Rose attempted a smile, but it came out tight and strained, so she dropped her gaze to her tea once more instead. There were so many things sitting on the tip of her tongue that she wished to interject, but she swallowed the words and strictly reminded herself that they were all within some sort of shared dream state and she would have to keep a tight rein on her secrets if she wanted to keep them to herself.

"Have you gone a darker green?" Strax piped up unhelpfully as he narrowed his eyes on Vastra.

"Clara Oswald," Vastra finished hurriedly, clearly eager to be finished with the awkward introductions.

There was a beat of silence before the woman to Rose's right added tersely, "Professor River Song. The Doctor might have mentioned me?"

The other woman was clearly doing her very best to appear formal and straightforward, but Rose could hear the unrestrained hope in her voice. It was a hope that she, herself, knew only too well - it was a hope that cut like a knife whenever it was ignored or fell flat. So she forced herself to meet the professor's gaze once more and she did everything that she could to make her answering smile look and feel more genuine.

"Oh, yes. 'Course he has," Rose replied quietly. She couldn't help but notice as she took a closer look at River that the woman wasn't wearing a wedding ring, either. She also didn't look like any sort of professor that Rose had ever met - dressed in a long, shimmering gown of gold and white. What, exactly, was she a professor _of_? Rose realized belatedly that she had never asked the Doctor for details about his strange, sort-of, timey-wimey wife.

"It's nice to finally get to meet you, Professor," Rose added politely.

River narrowed her eyes ever-so-slightly as she nodded at Rose in return, clearly trying just as hard as she was to puzzle the other woman out. It seemed that jealous suspicion went both ways when it came to the Doctor.

"Perhaps we should get down to the business at hand," Vastra supplied helpfully, shifting nervously in her seat as she leaned forward and began her explanation for why she had brought them all together. With a wave of her hand, the air above the center of the table shifted to reveal space-time coordinates supposedly leading to "the Doctor's greatest secret".

"The Doctor does not discuss his secrets with anyone, my dear," Madame Vastra reminded Rose ominously. "If you're still entertaining the idea that you are an exception to this rule, ask yourself one question - what is his name?"

Rose felt a muscle in her jaw twitch as she stared hard back at Madame Vastra from across the table. Suddenly, the weight of her own secrets felt like a millstone around her neck as she clenched her teeth together and stubbornly refused to let loose a single one of them. She sensed that something was going on, here - something far more dangerous than any of them yet understood - and she felt the Doctor's absence keenly as she was forced to face the threat alone.

"Well, I know it," River piped up, flashing Rose a look that wasn't half smug as she turned to face her.

Rose felt a dozen different snide remarks rushing forward to take the place of all of the secrets threatening to burst forth off of her tongue, and she flashed the professor a tight, unamused smile as she bit them all back and forced herself to remain respectfully distant. She knew that if she were still her old self, Rose might have had a harder time remaining silent, but she was easily twice the age of River, and she liked to think that she had gained a bit of wisdom and restraint over the course of her extended years.

"Yeah?" she finally muttered casually. "How'd you manage that, then?"

"I made him," River replied with an unrepentant shrug.

"How?" Rose pressed, interested to hear the professor's recounting of the "complicated" wedding that the Doctor had only vaguely described.

"It took a while ..." River admitted with a sigh, raising her eyebrows in a weary expression as she primly returned to her glass of champagne.

"So you're ... a _friend_ of his, then?" Rose asked testily, narrowing her eyes slightly as she gazed at River from over the rim of her teacup.

"A little more than a friend," River replied confidently, without even a hint of hesitation. "A long time ago ..." she added quietly, almost as an afterthought.

"He's still never contacted you?" Madame Vastra asked gently, her expression filled with sympathy for the other woman.

"He doesn't like endings," River replied simply, flashing their reptilian hostess a terse smile.

Suddenly, Jenny twitched and began shifting uncomfortably in her seat and Rose furrowed her brow at her from across the table in a look of quiet concern as Madame Vastra and River continued talking over the information that Vastra had collected about the Doctor.

Rose was startled back to the matter at hand as the center of the table lit up once more and a man's grim face appeared. "The Doctor has a secret, you know," the hologram muttered ominously. "He has one he will take to the grave. It is discovered."

"You misunderstood ..." River breathed in horror.

But their conversation was quickly interrupted as Jenny began breathing heavily and apologizing for no apparent reason. "I think I've been murdered ..." the young woman cried out desperately as her image began to blink and then fade away before their eyes.

"Jenny!" Madame Vastra shouted in terror.

"What's happened to her?" Rose demanded worriedly.

"You're under attack," River stated solemnly as Jenny's image finally dissipated into nothing, her chair sitting empty and forlorn against the table. "You must wake up now. Just wake up! Do it!" Her voice was raised in panic now as the professor reached forward and slapped Madame Vastra hard across the cheek.

The reptilian woman immediately blinked out of existence, now leaving two empty chairs on the opposite end of the table.

"You, too, Strax," River commanded, grabbing her half-empty glass of champagne and throwing it into the alien's face.

Rose leapt to her feet in surprise as their small party instantly dwindled to just her and River. Before she could make another move, however, the room suddenly flooded with creatures in Victorian suits and top hats, their appearance seeming almost human if not for the sickly pale skin, sharpened, dangerous teeth, and their complete lack of eyes.

"_Tell the Doctor, tell the Doctor, tell the Doctor ..._" they whispered ominously in unison.

"Tell him _what_?" Rose snarled, glaring at the encroaching men with as much venom as she could muster in her terrified state.

Suddenly, the center of the table illuminated for a third time - this time revealing a male face that Rose recognized.

"His friends are lost forever more, unless he goes to Trenzalore," the man who Rose had known as Doctor Simeon stated simply.

"No, you can't say that," River replied, her words coming out fast and terrified. "He can't go there - you know he can't! The Doctor can never go to Trenzalore!"

"Rose?"

The strange new voice and the sound of her true name made Rose jump in surprise as she glanced quickly behind her, looking frantically for the source. However, the only other things in the room with them were more of the strange, not-human men who were slowly approaching her and River on all sides.

"Rose?" the voice whispered again. It was familiar, but with no face to pair it with, and with her sleeping mind working against her, Rose couldn't quite place where she recognized it from.

"Rose ..." the voice called again, its quiet concern pulling her slowly forward towards consciousness.

She blinked once, and then suddenly she was lying in bed in the exact same position that she had fallen asleep in. With the dream quickly fading away and her conscious mind returning to her, Rose began to recall what had preceded her strange, otherworldly dream.

After the exhausting day that they had both had and the subsequent talk about their respective exes (_and_ their long bout of heated, passionate snogging), Rose and the Doctor had fallen into an exhausted pile of half-clothed limbs and quickly fallen asleep in her bed. It reminded her of back when she had been traveling with the Doctor in her old body. Whenever they had had a particularly rough or trying adventure, one of them would always seek the other one out and they would curl up around one another until they felt safe and relaxed enough to drift off to sleep. It was an unspoken, agreed-upon habit that they had fallen into without even realizing that it was becoming routine.

At the present moment, the Doctor had one arm wrapped tight around Rose's shoulders and his opposite hand was running gently through her hair as he murmured her name softly into the crown of her head. She had woken up in similar positions before - both with the Doctor, and with her husband - whenever she was having particularly bad dreams.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he whispered gently as he pressed light, comforting kisses to her forehead and ran his thumb along the arch of her brow and across her temple.

Rose shivered as the details of her dream rushed back to her and she squeezed her arms tighter around the Doctor from where she lay resting against his chest.

"Doctor, I have to tell you something," she murmured hesitantly as she stared unseeingly into space and fought to keep herself from shivering once more.

"What is it, love?" he asked, sending her a mental wave of peace and reassurance as he tightened his hold around her shoulders supportively.

Rose fisted her hand in his rumpled Oxford as she twisted her head and forced herself to meet the Doctor's concerned green gaze.

"Doctor, what do you know about Trenzalore?" she asked quietly.


	20. Chapter Twenty

The Doctor tried running, just as he always did, but Rose had long since learned how to chase after him. She eventually found him slumped against the bottom of the TARDIS time rotor with tears drying on his cheeks as he stared listlessly out at nothing.

He was still a disheveled mess from when he had jumped clumsily from her bed in an attempt to avoid the inevitable. His hair was tousled, the sleeves of his Oxford were rolled up unevenly along his forearms, and his braces hung loosely down around his legs.

Rose didn't bother saying anything in that moment. She still didn't even properly know what was going on. So instead, she simply sat down next to him as close as she could get and leaned her head against his shoulder - silently reminding him that she was here and she wasn't going anywhere as long as he needed her.

The Doctor sighed heavily and hung his head until his chin practically touched his chest. "Trenzalore," he muttered wearily. "I've heard the name, of course. Dorium mentioned it; a few others. Always suspected what it was - never wanted to find out myself. River would know, though. River always knew."

Rose still didn't make any sort of response other than to twist her head on his shoulder so that she could see the expression on his face as he spoke. The Doctor was scared - really, properly terrified. It was something that she experienced so rarely that she always had a hard time reacting to it.

"What can I do, Doctor?" she finally asked quietly after silence reigned for just a moment too long and his expression began to fall into a grimace.

"The coordinates you saw will still be in your memory," he stated simply. He flashed her a look out of the corner of his eye as he added, "You've been communicating telepathically with the TARDIS, haven't you?"

Rose lowered her gaze in embarrassment as she realized that this was just one more secret that she hadn't found the time to reveal to him yet, but she nodded slowly and replied, "Yes, I think so. Ever since I've been back it's like ... I can hear her in my head sometimes."

"Right," he replied, his tone still quiet and hard and revealing absolutely nothing to her. "She should be able to use those coordinates, then."

"Doctor, what _is_ Trenzalore?" Rose finally asked, unable to keep the question to herself any longer. "Where are we going?"

A muscle in his jaw twitched and he glared hard at the opposing wall as he refused to meet her curious gaze. "When you are a time traveler," he replied slowly, "there is one place you must never go - one place in all of space and time you must never, _ever_ find yourself."

"Where?" Rose asked breathlessly.

The Doctor jumped to his feet as though she had shocked him and Rose faltered as his weight suddenly disappeared out from under her. She blinked up at him in confusion as he began to nervously pace around the empty space underneath the TARDIS console and busily wrung his hands together.

"You didn't _listen_, did you?" he snapped irritably. "You lot never do. That's the problem. 'The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave - it is discovered.' He wasn't _talking_ about my secret. No, no, no, that's not what's been found. He was talking about my ... grave."

The Doctor's pacing slowed as he turned to face Rose once more, and the look in his deep green eyes broke her heart. There was a _hopelessness_ there that she had never seen before on any face of the Doctor's. She had never seen him just ... _give up_ like this, and it shook her to her core.

"_Trenzalore_ is where I'm buried," the Doctor finished matter-of-factly as he glared down at the ground in bitter defeat.

"Why are we going there, then?" Rose asked timidly, her fingers fidgeting nervously in her lap as she fought the urge to reach out to him once more.

"I have to save Vastra and Strax," the Doctor sighed wearily as he took up his pacing once more," Jenny, too, if it's possible. They ... cared for me during the dark times. Never questioned me, never judged me, they were just ... _kind_."

He paused as he flashed Rose another sad, hopeless look, and she wondered, not for the first time, who it was that the Doctor had lost that had caused him to be so lonely. Was it River? Was it the young couple that she had seen him with at the dalek asylum? OR was it someone else entirely - someone that he hadn't even mentioned yet?

She didn't get the chance to ask him a single one of her many questions before he took off up the stairs towards the upper levels of the console room without another word. "I owe them," the Doctor called back to her resolutely. "I have a duty."

Rose immediately jumped to her feet, following directly behind him, but he paused on the steps and turned back to meet her gaze once more with a hooded expression. With his hands stretched out towards the railings on either side of him, he effectively blocked her way as he leaned down ominously and leveled his face with hers. "No point in telling you this is too dangerous?" he asked, his tone low and serious.

"None at all," Rose replied without hesitation. She skipped up the last few steps that separated them and leaned up to press a hard, insistent kiss to his cheek. "How can we save them?" she asked, flashing him a mischievous, daring smile that she knew he couldn't resist.

He responded, as she knew that he would, with a small smile of his own. Even though it wasn't as confident as it usually was, it was genuine and looked far better on his features than the nasty scowl that he had been wearing ever since she first muttered the word "_Trenzalore_".

Her vow to stay by his side also spurred him forward into action as the Doctor turned and continued mounting the stairs only to begin sliding around the console in his usually flurry of movement. "Apparently," he called out grandly in response to her question, "by breaking into my own tomb."

He threw down the dematerialization lever without another word and the TARDIS immediately began to groan her protests as she shook violently and caused them both to stumble.

"Well, she doesn't like that," Rose shouted sarcastically above the ship's din as she grabbed onto the railing behind her in order to keep herself standing.

"She's just figured out where we're going. She's against it," the Doctor replied, grunting as he continued to attempt to poke and prod the time ship into submission. "I'm about to cross my own timeline in the biggest way possible. The TARDIS doesn't like it."

The sentient ship gave another almighty lurch as if to confirm his words and Rose heard her song growling a threatening warning in her head. At the next shudder, Rose was tossed forward against the console, her hips colliding painfully with metal and a joystick stabbing awkwardly into her gut as she attempted to brace herself against the solid surface.

"She's fighting it," the Doctor grumbled as he gripped the lever nearest him and put all of his weight into attempting to force it down. "Hang on!"

The console room immediately exploded into a shower of sparks and clouds of smoke as the machinery worked hard against its own stubborn pilot. The wild, uneven movements suddenly came to a shuddering halt that threw the Doctor and Rose both into the nearest railing, their limbs sprawling haphazardly over the edge of the flooring as they clung tight and attempted to catch their breaths.

"Must you two always fight?" Rose groaned, coughing against the suddenly smoke-filled atmosphere as she glanced sideways at the outline of the Doctor's shape through the mist.

"She doesn't want to land. She's shut down," he replied unhelpfully. "But we must be close!"

He scrambled to his feet without another word and quickly darted towards the TARDIS doors. Rose silently apologized to the sentient ship on behalf of them both as she stood to her own shaky feet and dusted off the front of her dress.

"Okay, so that's where I end up," the Doctor grumbled as he glanced nervously out at the planet that lay just below them.

Rose was at his side immediately, the tense tone of his voice calling out to her in a way that was instinctual and impossible to dismiss. The planet below was dark and ashy, ribboned through with glowing lines of red and orange fire.

"Always thought ... maybe I'd retire," the Doctor muttered quietly as though to himself, "take up watercolors or bee-keeping or something."

Rose cast him a sad, sympathetic look that he answered with one of his own as he took a moment to look deep into her eyes and then returned his gaze to the volcanic planet below. "Apparently not," he breathed ruefully.

"You could still do those things," Rose reminded him gently as she reached on instinct for his hand, which she wrapped up protectively in both of hers. "There's time enough for all of that."

The Doctor breathed a humorless laugh as he continued to stare out at the expanse of the planet before them. He was keeping his thoughts tightly shielded away from her, but with his hand in hers, Rose could easily make out the tense, nervous energy that he seemed to be bristling with.

"Did _he_ ever retire?" the Doctor asked suddenly, furrowing his brow in curiosity, but not quite meeting her gaze. "Your Doctor - your ... husband?"

Rose smiled as she squeezed his hand in hers and stepped closer so that she could rest her head against his shoulder again. "Eventually, yes," she replied quietly. "But there were a lot of false-starts and plenty of dangerous escapades in between. You never could say 'no' when someone needed help."

"Were you happy with him, Rose?" he asked, his voice barely more than a whisper as he squeezed her hand tight and buried his nose in her hair.

Rose closed her eyes and let out a small sigh of breath as she telepathically projected the depth of the love and contentment that she had shared with her husband during their lifetime together. "Deliriously," she whispered out loud as her lips curled into a peaceful, satisfied smile.

The Doctor turned towards her, then, so that he could wrap his free arm tight around her waist as he brought her closer and bent to rest his forehead against hers. He sent Rose a quick snapshot of his thoughts - just the barest glimpse, keeping the majority of his mind locked tight away and out of her reach. Even this small part that he revealed to her, he let loose with a sense of timid shyness that she rarely ever associated with the Doctor.

Through this quick glimpse into his mind, Rose could see that he longed desperately to give her the sort of life that he thought she deserved, but he wasn't sure if he could ever live up to the simple day-to-day of domesticity that she had shared with her half-human husband. He felt hopelessly, terribly out of his depth and he wasn't even truly sure that he deserved her in the first place.

Rose quickly put all of those fears to rest, however, as she projected as much love and understanding as possible into his mind and tilted her head up to slant her lips against his own in a firm, deliberate kiss.

The Doctor let out a small breath through his nose as he leaned further into her and Rose could sense his thoughts beginning to turn towards other creative ways that he could run away and delay the inevitable, but she forced herself to pull back before he could let either of them get too carried away with _that_ line of thought. Rose knew that there was no use in wasting the time that they had left while Jenny, Vastra, and Strax were still in danger.

She kept her tone light, however, as she flashed the Doctor a playful smile and brought her free hand up to sweep through the unruly mop of his hair. "Best get you cleaned up before we land," she reminded him quietly, giving his unkempt clothes a pointed once-over.

"Who says we're landing?" the Doctor asked, his own teasing grin beginning to turn up the corners of his mouth. "The TARDIS won't let us go any further. How are we supposed to get down there?"

"You'll think of something," Rose replied with a knowing smirk as she let her hand fall to his chest, her fingers slowly following the straight, vertical line of buttons down the front of his Oxford.

The Doctor's grin widened and his green eyes sparkled as he adopted her knowing grin and replied, "You sound fairly confident."

"Oh, I am," Rose assured him, her tone low and sultry. "You see, I've seen the Doctor in action before, and he can be very ... _impressive_."

The Doctor said nothing in response to that, but Rose could both see and sense his answer to her playful words and she giggled lightly to diffuse the tension between them and remind the Doctor once more that there were more important things to be getting on with.

"This, however," she added, gently poking his rumpled shirt for emphasis, "is _not_ impressive. Can't go swooping in to save the day looking all raggedy like that, now, can you?"

The Doctor's breath hitched, then, and Rose immediately lost her playful smile at the strange, wide-eyed look that he cast in her direction. However, the moment only lasted for a second, and when Rose blinked again, he was smiling widely at her and then dashing back into the depths of the TARDIS to retrieve clean clothes and his faithful bowtie without another word.

Rose didn't get a chance to ask him what it was that she had said to put such a look on his face as she jogged quickly after him, eager to find a fresh set of clothes, herself. She figured that this, too, could be a discussion saved for later. Right now, there were people in danger, and the universe's cry for help would always come before Rose and the Doctor - no matter what they might be dealing with personally.


	21. Chapter Twenty-One

The landing was one of the roughest that Rose had ever experienced in all of her time traveling with the Doctor. With most of the TARDIS's systems shut down, the ship's song was nothing more than a distant, disgruntled groaning in the back of Rose's mind, but she thought that there was something more in the ship's message - almost like a cry of warning.

The Doctor took Rose's hand in his as they took their first stumbling steps onto the surface of the planet Trenzalore. They seemed to have landed in some sort of old, dimly lit graveyard and Rose shivered as the Doctor explained to her the many unique dangers that no doubt lay ahead of them.

It didn't take them long at all to find the great, towering vestiges of the TARDIS herself, and Rose winced as the old ship's song reached into her mind. The familiar melody - which was normally so reassuring that it could instantly calm her, no matter what the circumstances were - was coming out oddly garbled and uneven with time and age.

"What else would they bury me in?" the Doctor grumbled bitterly as he dropped Rose's hand and stormed off with his shoulders hunched up practically to his ears.

However, Rose didn't get the chance to run off after him before a sharp, whispered voice called out to her. "Clara!" Rose whipped her head around at the sound of her false name and stared wide-eyed at the image of Professor River Song that stood just behind her, watching her and the Doctor carefully. "Don't speak, don't say my name," the other woman commanded quietly. "He can't see or hear me. Only you can."

Rose furrowed her brow at the strange woman as she slowly looked her up and down. She appeared real enough - wearing the exact same clothes that she had been dressed in during Rose's dream - but there was an odd glimmer just around the outline of her form that suggested that the image that Rose was looking at now wasn't actually there.

Rose cast the other woman one last wary look before she turned slowly back towards the direction that the Doctor had stormed off to and silently and discreetly motioned for River to follow her. She had to clench her jaw shut tight in order to force herself to hold back the many questions that she had for River - it wouldn't do for the Doctor to hear her talking to herself and worrying over yet another confusing mystery. However, River seemed more than happy to fill in the gaps for her.

"We're mentally linked," the other woman explained as she easily fell into step beside Rose and the two of them continued to dodge through the headstones in the direction of the Doctor. "It's the conference call - I kept the line open."

Rose flashed her a quick, distrustful look out of the corner of her eye as the two women finally came up upon the Doctor, who seemed to have frozen in his tracks and was staring blankly at nothing. Rose ignored River completely, then, as she stepped forward and slid her hand into his, looking up at him with quiet concern.

"Doctor?" she asked hesitantly.

"River."

"Sorry?" Rose replied searchingly. But all other questions quickly died on her tongue as she followed the Doctor's haunted gaze to the gravestone that stood directly opposite him. Carved into the granite in a plain, unassuming font was the name "River Song" - no dates or description, just the one, simple name.

"Doctor, that can't be right ..." Rose murmured, remembering her previous conversation with him when he had clearly told her that he had seen River's death with his own eyes.

"No, it can't," the Doctor agreed breathlessly. "Her grave can't be here."

"Well, if it's not my gravestone, then what is it?" River asked slyly as she circled around Rose and leaned herself casually against the slab of granite before them.

Rose narrowed her eyes at the other woman once more, but she followed her subtle bidding nonetheless as she clung tighter to the Doctor's hand and repeated, "If it's not her gravestone, then what do you think it is?"

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut tight and shook his head as he searched his brain for any sort of answer that might make sense.

"Maybe it's a false grave," River supplied helpfully, raising her eyebrows at Rose in a pointed look. "Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb."

Rose's breath caught and her eyes widened as she looked up at the Doctor and quickly parroted River's words back to him.

"Yes, of course! Makes sense!" the Doctor muttered triumphantly as he dropped Rose's hand and quickly retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his breast pocket. "They'd never bury my wife out here!"

Rose didn't get the chance to admonish him for his tactless use of the word "wife" in that moment as he shot his arm out straight and pointed his sonic at the gravestone. In a flash of green, the sonic whirred to life and then the ground gave way beneath them and everything went dark as Rose and the Doctor plummeted headlong into the ground.

"Where are we?" Rose whispered as she stood shakily to her feet and dusted off the front of her dress. Even though she purposefully kept her voice low, the sound seemed to ring off of the silent stone walls that surrounded them. The only light in the dim, underground tunnel came from large metal torches that lined the walls sporadically along the walkway.

The Doctor reached for one and replied succinctly, "Catacombs."

"'Course they are," Rose replied, her tone laden with sarcasm. "Why _wouldn't_ there be catacombs? Anyway, what was that gravestone all about? Why would someone put River's name over an empty grave? Doctor, you never properly explained what happened to her ..."

"No, I didn't," he replied with a soft sigh, pointedly ignoring the rest of Rose's questions as he turned away and began to lead them deeper into the underground catacombs.

"I died saving him." River's unexpected voice made Rose jump again as she whirled around to face the other woman, who was standing behind her with a small, rueful smile on her face. "In return, he saved me to a database in the biggest library in the universe. Left me like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye."

Rose lowered her gaze as she felt a stab of empathy for the other woman. She knew only too well how painful saying goodbye to the Doctor could be - she had been forced through the experience far too many times in her long life.

"He doesn't like endings," River sighed resignedly, giving Rose a small, helpless shrug. However, after a brief pause, she cocked her head curiously in Rose's direction as she added, "You seem to know a lot about me, but I'm afraid that I don't know much about you, Clara. I used to study the Doctor's companions, you know - both past and future - but I don't remember ever coming across your name ..."

Rose's jaw tightened as her mind began to race in an attempt to come up with a lie that would be good enough to fool the clever Professor Song when a dark gloved hand suddenly reached through the center of River's chest and another tall man in a top hat with no face stepped through her image and began reaching threateningly towards Rose.

"_This man must fall as all men must, the fate of all is always dust,_" the creature whispered ominously.

"Rose, come on!" the Doctor shouted, seeming to appear out of nowhere as he slipped his hand into hers and drug her instantly out of harm's way. "Run, run!" Rose knew the command well, and she had no trouble heeding his words now as she darted quickly after him.

"_The man who lies will lie no more, when this man lies at Trenzalore,_" the monsters continued to whisper as they hastily followed down the dusty hallway after them.

Finally, the Doctor and Rose reached the end of the path where a large, metal door loomed before them. "Come on, quickly!" he called, giving the door a quick buzz with the sonic and then shoving her unceremoniously through the open arch. He slammed the door shut behind them just in time, one of the creature's gloved hands catching in the crack of the door as the Doctor thrust his entire weight against it.

"What _are_ those things?" Rose demanded breathlessly as the hand finally slipped back out of sight and the door locked securely into place.

"No idea," the Doctor breathed, leveling his gaze on her in quiet concern. "Are you alright?" The way he was looking at her suggested that he meant more than just physically, but Rose still didn't quite know how to tell him that she was seeing a strange dream-image of his dead wife, so she simply nodded her head and dropped her gaze from his dismissively.

As if on cue, a familiar voice suddenly whispered through the darkness. "I can't believe it ..." Rose had to fight not to roll her eyes as she glanced sideways and caught sight of Professor Song yet again. "It can't be possible, how did you ...?"

But River didn't get a chance to finish her breathless question as the Doctor let his torch drop heavily to the ground at their feet and then stepped forward and grabbed Rose's hand once more, pulling them off towards a set of grated stairs.

"Rose," River continued anyway as she rushed hurriedly after them, her eyes wide with wonder as she stared hard at Rose's face. "He called you Rose. But ... that's not possible. You can't be ..."

Rose turned to flash river a threatening glare over her shoulder. If she weren't afraid of replying out loud and risking the Doctor thinking that she had finally lost it, she would have reminded the other woman to keep her voice down and mind her own business. She shouldn't even _be_ here, anyway - wasn't she supposed to be dead?

"You _are_, aren't you?" River gasped in amazement as the three of them continued to rush quickly up the staircase. "You're _her_ ..."

Rose's sharp retort was just on the tip of her tongue, but it was cut off as a loud whispering suddenly filled the air around them once more, making all three of them hesitate as they looked around anxiously for the source of the noise.

"_The girl who died he tried to save, she'll die again inside his grave._"

"Run," the Doctor commanded again, tugging Rose's arm as they continued their mad dash towards the ancient TARDIS's console room.

Thankfully, when Rose glanced back over her shoulder, she saw that River's form had dissipated once more - her impossible-to-answer questions and her wide-eyed look of shock gone with her. Rose could only hope that she wouldn't be making an appearance for a fourth time. She wasn't exactly sure what danger there could be in revealing her true identity to a dead woman, but here in this broken-down TARDIS where timelines were falling apart and reconverging in new and mysterious ways, Rose didn't exactly want to find out just how far she could push her luck.

\--------------------

However, despite Rose's wishes, River _did_ show up again - and just in time to open the door to the Doctor's tomb and save all of their lives. Rose nearly stopped breathing the moment that she heard the quiet, muttered name of the Doctor spoken out loud in the presence of so many other people, and she had to forcefully remind herself that no one else could actually _hear_ the whispered secret that River released into the atmosphere.

Rose had only ever heard the name spoken in the voice of her husband - and that only when they were absolutely alone. Hearing it now, spoken in another woman's voice, made her shiver uncomfortably as she glanced nervously towards the professor.

"The TARDIS can still hear me," River murmured triumphantly as she slowly circled the Doctor and raised her eyebrows at him smugly. "Lucky thing, since him indoors is being so _useless_."

Rose flashed the other woman an unamused look as the Doctor rushed unknowingly past the professor and began to check over each person in their group one at a time. He glanced over Jenny, Vastra, and Strax first, and then was immediately at Rose's side. "Clara, are you okay?" he asked in concern as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug.

Rose squeezed her eyes shut tight as she embraced him, her heart still pounding in fear as the two of them turned in unison to face the open doors that stood ahead and the ominous, glowing light that lay beyond.

"Do you know what's in there?" the Doctor asked the Doctor Simeon-looking man who stood between them and the tomb.

"For me, peace at last," the being answered simply. "For you, _pain_ everlasting. Won't you invite us in?" The man stepped graciously aside, silently beckoning the Doctor forward and daring him to try and go against his wishes again.

The Doctor tensed at Rose's side as he openly glared at the blue-tinted glow seeping through the doors before them. Finally, he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and stepped forward to heave the double doors open far enough for them all to enter.

Rose was directly behind him the entire time as their small party slowly entered into the old, derelict TARDIS. The ship's song moaned slightly off-key as they all crossed her threshold into what was meant to be the console room, but had long since been grown over with roots and vines attempting to wind their way around her insides.

As they all slowly climbed the stairs towards the main level of the old console room, Rose realized two things simultaneously. The first was that the ephemeral blue glow that had been seeping out of the room was _not_ \- as she had first assumed - the light of the time rotor. In fact, there _was_ no time rotor - not anymore. Instead, a hazy mess of silver-blue lines reached from the floor to the ceiling in place of the TARDIS console, tangling and twisting together in an infinite, intricate dance.

The second thing that Rose noticed was that the great mess of timelines wasn't the only thing emitting a glow from the center of the large room. There was the form of a woman standing in the middle of it all - her odd, inhuman eyes flaring gold as she blinked up to stare directly at them.

"_Hello, Rose,_" the Bad Wolf murmured quietly. "_It's good to see you again._"


	22. Chapter Twenty-Two

"What in the hell is _that_?" River demanded as she looked the Bad Wolf up and down with heavy suspicion.

Rose flashed the professor a dubious look, but it was the Bad Wolf who supplied helpfully, "_She can see me through you. She's mentally linked with your brain waves._"

"Hold on a second ..." River breathed, staring at the glowing woman with wide, shocked eyes. "You're not ..."

"_Hello, Melody,_" the Bad Wolf replied, her eerie smile turning up her features and making Rose shiver. "_I've been so eager to finally meet you._"

"But ... you're a myth!" River protested disbelievingly. "You're meant to be just a fantasy story passed down through the ages ..."

"_Yes, I am,_" the Bad Wolf replied simply. "_And now I'm here, because the Doctor is in danger once more. I brought you both here to help him._"

Rose was distantly aware that Jenny, Vastra, Strax, and the Doctor were all speaking with one another and she blinked hard and forced her gaze away from the two invisible women in the room so that she could focus better on what was going on in the waking world around her.

"Time travel is ... damage," the Doctor muttered as his brow furrowed and he stared hard at anything in the old console room except for the glowing swirl of silver tendrils before them. "It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through ... time and space - from Gallifrey ... to Trenzalore."

He sighed wearily as he reached forward with the sonic, and after a few seconds of whirring, a myriad of voices began to ring forth through the cracks in time that danced and twisted before their eyes. Rose recognized some of the voices - the memories of the two Doctors from her past making her heart skip a beat as they echoed through the room around them.

The Doctor didn't get to finish explaining the way that he normally would have, however, as he suddenly swooned and then collapsed onto the dusty floor below, his right arm jarring as he went down hard.

"Doctor!" Rose shouted in concern, instantly running forward to kneel down at his side.

"I shouldn't be here," he groaned, his breath coming in heavy, panting gasps as he writhed in pain against the ground. "The paradox ... it's very bad ..." He twisted his bowtie awkwardly away from his throat, as though he was suddenly having a hard time breathing past it as he looked over Rose's shoulder and gasped desperately, "No! No, what are you doing? Somebody stop him!"

Rose followed his panicked gaze to see that Doctor Simeon was standing before the fractals of light in the center of the room and gazing into the glow as though it were a prize that he had fought very hard to win. "The Doctor's life is an open wound," he declared darkly," and an open wound can be entered."

"No. It would destroy you," the Doctor panted as he continued to work hard against his bowtie and fought to keep his eyes open to meet Doctor Simeon's gaze.

"Not at all - it will kill me, it will destroy _you_," the man in the top hat hissed venomously. "I can rewrite your every living moment. I can turn every one of your victories into defeats, poison every friendship, deliver pain to your _every breath_."

The Doctor still tried to argue with the crazed entity, but Rose's attention had been caught once more by the warm glow that stood just behind the silver-blue time stream. The Bad Wolf's ephemeral shine was like sunlight in the darkened room that they all stood in - she burned like a fire next to the swirling tendrils of time that crackled and stung like ice.

The creature met Rose's gaze evenly then turned her expressionless face towards Simeon as he backed into the time stream beside her.

_Stop him,_ Rose begged silently.

"_I am,_" the Bad Wolf replied simply, turning her glowing eyes back to Rose as she slowly reached her hand out towards her in a beckoning motion. The simple invitation and silent command were an exact repeat of what the Wolf had done back on Akhaten, and Rose instantly realized that if they were going to save the Doctor's life yet again, then they were going to have to do it together.

However, before she even had the chance to stand, the Doctor cried out in pain and began to writhe in vicious agony along the ground beside her.

"What's wrong with him? What's happening?" Rose demanded as her arms hovered uselessly over his flailing form. She wanted so desperately to reach out and offer him comfort, but she already knew that the time for comfort was past - now was the time for _action_.

"He's being rewritten," Madame Vastra muttered in disbelief as she watched the Doctor scream and toss about. "Simeon is attacking his entire timeline. He's dying all at once."

Rose wasn't sure if the hazy images that seemed to be floating around the room now were real or just another part of her subconscious playing tricks on her, but she watched in fascination nonetheless as the many faces of the Doctor glanced upwards in varying expressions of fear and pain.

"_It is done,_" a single voice declared as it echoed throughout the entire time stream, instantly turning the cool blue light into a fiery, angry red.

"Rose." She blinked through her haze of tears to see River leaning close to her, her own expression filled with pain and sympathy as the two of them bent over the gasping, crying form of the man who they both loved. "Rose, _do something,_" she begged quietly.

"What can I do?" Rose sobbed desperately, not caring in the least any more who might question the fact that she appeared to be talking to herself.

"_Alone, you can do nothing,_" the Bad Wolf replied evenly, immediately drawing the attention of the two women back to the center of the room once more. She was still standing next to the Doctor's broken timeline, her left arm outstretched invitingly towards Rose. "_But we've always worked better when we're together, haven't we, Little Flower? Come. It's time to save the Doctor again._"

This time, there was no hesitation as Rose gave the Doctor's hand one last parting squeeze, silently promising him that she would fix this mess that they had found themselves in, and then stepped forward to touch the fingertips of the creature of time before her.

Rose breathed in a gasp of air as light flooded her senses and she felt the raw power of all of time and space explode inside of her head. Suddenly, she wasn't Rose Tyler anymore - she was something _more_.

_The Great Intelligence uses water and ice to manipulate and freeze,_ the Bad Wolf's voice growled as she turned towards the bright red tendrils of time before her. _Let's show him how the flame at the heart of the universe can_ burn.

The creature who was no longer Rose Tyler raised her hand and delicately touched her finger to one of the spider webs crackling off of the Doctor's timeline. Immediately, she could see the entirety of his life - from the beginning to the end, laid out before her into infinity as she lost herself completely in the Doctor. And throughout all of it was Simeon - always standing int he background and watching with his poisonous, vicious glare. However, as soon as the Bad Wolf entered into the time stream, his eyes began to widen with a look of sudden, real fear.

"No!" the Great Intelligence growled in frustration. "No, you can't do this!"

The Bad Wolf gritted her teeth as she thrust her hand further down the lines of the Doctor's time stream and allowed the blazing heat of time to flow through her fingers and directly into the heart of the Great Intelligence.

"No!" Simeon shouted again in contempt, but the rest of his protests were silenced as the Bad Wolf quickly and efficiently turned every last echo of the Great Intelligence into nothing more than a pile of ashes blowing away on the breeze.

The Bad Wolf gasped when she finally pulled her hand out of the light, which had returned to its original silvery-blue color. The branches and tendrils of the Doctor's time stream seemed to cling to her skin, wanting to pull her in deeper, but she was able to quickly and efficiently complete the time loops and reroute any attempted paradoxes as she extricated herself from the Doctor's timeline.

When she turned around to face the others once more, she saw that River had disappeared (her connection with Rose severed when Rose took all of time and space into her head) and Jenny, Vastra, and Strax were all staring at her in wide-eyed, open-mouthed shock.

"Now _it is done,_" she informed them simply. Her gaze then dropped to the Doctor, who was now lying prone on the floor, blinking dazedly up at the ceiling and panting breathlessly. She was at his side in an instant, kneeling next to him and placing one of her hands gently against his heaving chest.

"It's you ..." the Doctor murmured as he blinked hard and attempted to focus on her features, which were still ringed in a bright yellow glow.

"_It's me,_" the Bad Wolf agreed, her eyes sparkling gold as she smiled down at him with Rose's dainty human lips. "_You're safe now, my Doctor._"

"And what ... about Rose?" he breathed haltingly.

"_Safe as well. I would not have brought her here if I did not intend to keep her,_" the Bad Wolf informed him simply.

"'Keep her'?" the Doctor repeated, furrowing his brows up at her in confusion. "What do you mean, 'keep her'?"

"_I brought her back to this universe for a purpose,_" the Bad Wolf explained evenly. "_I was created to save the Doctor, but the Doctor is safe now. I am the Bad Wolf and my story is done._"

The Doctor opened his mouth to question her further - always, _always_ with the questions, it was one of the reasons why she loved him so much - but the creature simply leaned down and pressed her lips to his in order to silence him. She knew that even though her story was done, her work throughout all of time and space was far from over. She would still always be there, always making sure that her Doctor was safe. But for now, he had his Rose and his TARDIS and they were more than enough to see him through to another day.

_Goodbye, my Doctor,_ her voice whispered through the air as she slowly disentangled herself from Rose's mind and then dissipated in a cloud of glittering gold. _I love you ..._

As soon as the Bad Wolf had disappeared, Rose leaned back from the Doctor, one of her hands coming to his cheek as she gazed down at his expression of stunned surprise.

"Hello," she whispered groggily, blinking sluggishly down at him.

"Hello," the Doctor repeated, his exhausted smile instantly making Rose forget the weary ache in her limbs. He groaned as he forced himself up, propping his weight onto one of his elbows as he brought his other hand to her own cheek, where his thumb lovingly caressed the soft skin there. "Saved the day again," he added with a bemused smile. "How many more times are you planning on saving my life?"

Rose let out a small, breathless laugh as she leaned into his touch and replied earnestly, "As many times as it takes."

\--------------------

The metaphorical cat - or, perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a _Wolf_ \- was out of the bag after that. The Doctor and Rose awkwardly explained to Jenny, Vastra, and Strax the full extent of Rose's identity and her history with the Doctor, as well as the creation and subsequent timeline meddling of the Bad Wolf.

"But I don't understand ..." Madame Vastra insisted as the Doctor ushered them all back into the safety of his proper TARDIS and prepared to take them home. "Why all the secrecy? And why would this ... _Bad Wolf_ give Rose an entirely new name and a fictional, human life?"

"We ... don't really know," Rose replied sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders in the green woman's direction. "Just one more mystery that we still haven't managed to work out yet."

"But what's going to happen when Clara - I mean ... what's going to happen to _Rose_ when she dies again?" Jenny piped up curiously. "Not that I'm saying it's going to happen any time soon or anything, but we all gotta go sometime, haven't we? Is the Bad Wolf going to make you a whole new body all over again?"

"Don't know about that, either," Rose admitted hoenstly with another tight-lipped smile.

"Are you _certain_ she's human?" Strax murmured thoughtfully, his tiny, beady eyes narrowing as he tilted his entire body to the side in order to look up at Rose from a different angle.

"'Course I'm human, what else could I be?" Rose asked defensively.

"Have you been completely thorough in your examination, Doctor?" Strax insisted, reaching forward and curiously beginning to lift the hem of Rose's skirt.

She squeaked in embarrassed protest, but didn't get a chance to slap the alien's hand away before the Doctor quickly stepped between them and effectively cut Strax off from whatever "_examination_" he had been intending to do.

"Yep! Everything is completely, totally, fully checked out," the Doctor replied brightly. "Rose is human as human can be. She's got all the human parts she needs - everything's up to code. No need for further examination."

Strax grumbled in obvious distrust as he stepped away once more, but he let the matter drop nonetheless, much to the group's collective relief.

A few moments later, Jenny, Vastra, and Strax were all dropped back off in Victorian London where they belonged (well, _one_ out of the three did, anyway), and then it was back to the vortex for Rose and the Doctor. After all the time that they had spent talking about the Bad Wolf and explaining Rose's own past, she was finally ready to turn their next conversation towards another woman - the last loose end that Rose was determined to tie up, whether the Doctor liked it or not.

He had already shown her the basics of how to fly the TARDIS, and Rose silently allowed the sentient ship to guide her through the rest of the details as she quietly urged the Doctor out of the way (despite his confused protests) and set their next destination. "The biggest library in the universe", River had said. It was all the information that the TARDIS needed to set her coordinates, and in to time, they were sailing through time and into the fifty-first century.


	23. Chapter Twenty-Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you don't mind 2,000 words of nothing but fluff and kissing ...

"She told me what happened, you know," Rose informed the Doctor quietly. It hadn't taken him long to realize where she was taking him and why, and Rose had then explained to him the silent conversations that she had had with River throughout their time on Trenzalore. "River told me how she died. She's been waiting for you all this time - 'like a book on a shelf', she said. Why didn't you ever visit her?"

The Doctor gritted his teeth in silence for a moment before he finally shook his head and muttered, "Because I thought it would hurt too much."

"Do you have so little faith in her?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes on him in disbelief.

"No," the Doctor murmured, finally raising his eyes to meet hers, "I thought it would hurt _me_."

Rose's heart broke for her sad, ageless alien, but she knew how an eternity of not knowing could sting, and she wouldn't wish it on any woman in any universe. "You still have to say goodbye," Rose reminded him quietly, reaching forth to take his hand in hers as she stepped easily up to his side. "She deserves at least that much, don't you think?"

"Yes, but ..." the Doctor heaved a heavy sigh as he shook his head again and glared in frustration at the floor between her feet, "how?"

"Go to her, Doctor," Rose urged him quickly as the TARDIS came to a quiet halt around them. She didn't need to look at any of the sensors (not that she would have been able to make much sense of them, anyway) to know that they had landed exactly where she had asked the ship to take them.

Rose brought her free hand to the Doctor's cheek and she encouraged him to meet her eyes as she smiled up at him. "River will help you through the rest," she assured him gently. "Just go to her."

The two of them walked out of the TARDIS hand-in-hand, but Rose quickly released her hold on the Doctor and motioned for him to go on without her. He was all nervous, fidgeting energy as he reluctantly followed her instructions. However, he kept looking back at her as though he were waiting for his opportunity to make a run for it, so Rose made sure to keep her eyes on him in a stern, no-nonsense look until he had finally rounded the far corner and was out of her sight.

Rose spent the rest of her time in The Library wandering aimlessly down the long, seemingly-endless hallways of books. It appeared as though the TARDIS had landed them somewhere in biographies, so Rose passed the time by trying to pronounce names from far away times and planets and perusing the life stories of various famous entities throughout history.

She didn't know how much time had passed since they had first landed, but she estimated that only an hour or two had gone by before the Doctor returned to her once more. She didn't know how he seemed to find her so easily - she had wandered a good distance away from the TARDIS, and every aisle of books was immensely long and looked almost identical. Still, he charged right up to her as though he had known where she had been all along, and Rose was pleased to note that he was beaming from ear-to-ear as he did so.

"Did it go well, then?" she asked in amusement as she returned the book that she had been cradling in her hands back to the shelf. The written history in the old tome had been boring and monotonous, but she had been enjoying the colorful, life-like pictures that were scattered throughout its pages.

"I think she was surprised to see me," the Doctor replied casually, his smile never dimming as he leaned one shoulder against the bookshelf next to her.

"I'm glad I forced you to come, then," Rose teased, crossing her arms against her chest as she turned to face him fully.

"Me, too," the Doctor murmured, his tone lowering slightly so that Rose would know that he was being as open and as truthful as he knew how to be in this moment. He lowered his gaze to his boots as he added slowly, "Thank you. Not just for me, but for her, too."

"You should do these kinds of trips more often, you know," Rose reminded him, stepping forward and uncrossing her arms so that she could raise her hands to his bowtie, which she straightened, despite the fact that it was always immaculately symmetrical no matter what. "It doesn't always have to be a final goodbye. You could always go back and visit old companions, just to stop in and say hello."

The Doctor smiled down at her, but his eyes had that deep, haunted sadness to them once more and Rose knew the words that he wouldn't dare admit out loud - _not all of them_. Not all of the Doctor's past traveling companions made it out of their adventures alive, and not all of them ended up in a place where he could ever reach them again.

Rose was about to attempt to change the subject and steer the conversation back towards lighter waters once more when the Doctor suddenly raised his hands to either side of her face, his eyes watching her expression closely, as though he feared that she might try and push him away. When Rose's only response was to gaze up at him expectantly, he slowly let his eyes fall shut as he leaned his forehead gently against hers.

She could feel him in her mind instantly, though his thoughts were reserved and tentative as he slowly pushed himself deeper into her mind than he had dared yet go.

"Doctor ...?" Rose breathed, her brows furrowing over her own closed eyes as she felt him silently reaching out to her. "What are you ...?"

But her words ended on a soft, surprised gasp as he suddenly brushed up against her severed bond. The touch was gentle, but deliberate, and it made Rose shiver against him as she fought to catch her breath and still her beating heart.

_Please, Rose,_ the Doctor begged silently. Without any further warning, all of his repressed longing and desire flooded through Rose's mind, nearly taking her breath away a second time as her legs wobbled unevenly beneath her.

Rose was in utter disbelief - her first instinct was to ask him if he was sure that he knew what he was asking of her, but she already knew that if anybody understood the depth and importance of a telepathic bond, it was the Doctor. However, the sudden and unexpected request shocked her, and Rose didn't want the Doctor making this important, life-altering decision based off of whatever conversation he had just had with River. She decided to tread lightly as she reached out hesitantly with her thoughts to test the limits of his sincerity.

"But Doctor, you're already married," she teased quietly.

"So are you," he replied without hesitation.

"Well, there you are, then," she murmured, slowly opening her eyes to gaze up at his strained look of concentration. "Can't go around causing scandals, now, can we?"

_Can't we_? he asked silently as he tilted her face closer to his and gently ran his lips across her cheek in a slow, delicate kiss.

Rose breathed out a small, satisfied sigh as she slowly allowed her mind to open further for the Doctor and he cautiously began to dive deeper into her thoughts. In his head, Rose could see the decades of yearning and pain, the flame of raw desire that he had been holding on to, just for her, all of these years. She was drowning in the depth and power of his feelings, and she suddenly realized that she didn't need to ask the Doctor if he was certain about bonding with her or not. His answer was as plain and as simple as hers had always been - his _yes_, and _always_, and _forever_ echoing her own exactly.

Rose's severed bond was already so willing and eager to bridge the space that remained between them that Rose barely managed to raise her hands to either side of his face, her fingers effortlessly sliding into place against his temples as his own hands mirrored hers, before the link began to cement itself within her mind once more.

She whispered his name as a promise, and he whispered hers as a prayer, and then there was no more room for words between them because his lips were on hers and the two of them could do nothing more than groan in satisfaction as the mental bond settled happily between them.

To Rose, it felt like coming home - as though everything that was broken and wrong had suddenly been turned right and all of the pieces that she hadn't even known were missing were swiftly and effortlessly sliding back into place.

For the Doctor, it felt a bit like Pandora's box - everything that he had secretly and silently dreamed about for over a century suddenly being revealed and offered up to him without hesitation. To finally experience the one thing that he had never even allowed himself to dare to hope for was overwhelming. It was so far beyond what he ever could have expected that he was having trouble coping with the many emotions that were swelling up within his chest and spilling over into Rose.

He kissed her as though she were some sort of delicate, priceless treasure that could shatter at any moment from the impact of his wildly beating hearts. Or perhaps, he though, more likely - _he_ would be the one to shatter from all of the years of unspoken words that came forward all at once and threatened to overwhelm the both of them.

Rose, for her part, simply clung tight to the lapels of his jacket and waited patiently for both of their thoughts to settle. She, unlike him, had done this before, and though the intensity of the experience certainly hadn't changed, she was calmed by the fact that she knew what to expect, at least. She counted his heartsbeats against the palms of her hands, but she couldn't have possibly gauged how long they stood there in blissful silence before the Doctor finally tilted his head and deepened their kiss.

His mind was rambling away in his native tongue as he pulled her in closer, and even though Rose couldn't understand the words, she could sense the intent behind them that spoke of, _waited so long_, and _never knew it'd be like this_, and _my perfect, beautiful, fantastic Rose_. To which Rose responded with wordless sentiments of, _missed you so much_, and _needed this for so long_, and _my one and only Doctor_.

Her encouraging thoughts seemed to make him bold and Rose's knees nearly buckled beneath her when his tongue gently caressed her bottom lip. The Doctor made a guttural growling noise in his throat as she immediately opened her mouth to bring him in deeper.

As he leaned further down in an attempt to get as close to her as possible, he grumbled internally, _You_ definitely _used to be taller_.

Rose let out a small breath of laughter as she pulled away from his lips to tilt her head in the opposite direction and brought a hand up to brush the dark mop of his fringe out of his face. _And you_ definitely _used to have less hair_, she replied sarcastically.

The Doctor grinned down at her as he finally let his hands fall from her face so that he could wrap one arm tight around her waist while his other hand went to her left thigh. He easily hefted her weight up against him only to settle her onto the wooden library table behind her a moment later, where she could sit comfortably and be at eye-level with him. Rose gave a high-pitched noise of pleased surprise as she settled her weight on the new, solid surface with the help of the Doctor's gentle, guiding hands on her hips.

The Doctor ignored her bemused thought of, _Smooth_, and rolled his eyes as he breathlessly muttered, "Don't tell me you're missing spiky hair and sideburns now, are you?"

Rose smiled down at him, not even trying to hide from him the fact that she missed her previous Doctors and her husband very, very much indeed. However, she laced her fingers around the back of the Doctor's neck (the _current_ Doctor - her _husband_, now) and drew him in close as she whispered in reply, "I have everything that I could ever want or need right here."

His answering smile was tinged with sadness, so Rose ran her fingers over the pained shape of his lips until they relaxed and his eyes closed on a peaceful sigh. She let her hands fall to his collar once more as she leaned forward and ghosted her lips across his cheek, flooding their newly-formed bond with as much love as she could possibly give him.

The Doctor's grip on either side of Rose's hips tightened and he pressed his body flush against hers as he let his mouth trail across the sensitive skin of her neck, using his lips, teeth, and tongue in a way that made her shiver.

_Missed this, missed_ you, Rose whispered against his thoughts.

_I've waited so long - too long. Eternity would not be enough time to spend with you_, he mind in reply.

Rose lost track of time again as she lost herself in her new bondmate (_was_ he new? Blimey, marrying an alien could be complicated), but she was promptly brought back to reality at the sound of a distant cough from one of their fellow library patrons. The small sound was like a shock of cold water being poured out over the flames that had suddenly ignited between the two of them, and Rose forced herself to draw back and take a few deep, calming breaths as she examined the Doctor.

His unruly mop of hair was a sight and his dazed, unfocused expression made Rose giggle helplessly as she looked down on the man who she loved. She ran her fingers fondly through his thick hair until it was in a more organized shape and reveled in the way that his eyes closed and he leaned into her touch as though it were the only thing that mattered in that moment.

"Now we're causing a scandal _and_ a scene," Rose murmured wryly as she smiled down at him.

The Doctor huffed a small breath of laughter as he quickly scooped Rose up and set her gently back on her own two feet again. He kissed her once in what was meant to be a sweet, parting gesture, but his lips seemed to have a mind of their own and he couldn't quite force himself to pull away again. Rose was giggling once more as she pushed lightly at his shoulder and silently reminded him that they had a completely secluded and private time ship waiting for them just a few aisles over.

The Doctor's soft smile instantly spread into a wide, manic grin as he took her hand in his and whispered under his breath, "Run!"

Rose's answering belly laugh couldn't be contained, and she began to wonder if the Doctor had set out with the explicit _intent_ of causing a scene as the library patrons in the aisles that they darted past glared up at them in obvious annoyance. She honestly couldn't have cared less in that moment, though - not with her bondmate's giddy excitement rushing through her veins and making her heart race.

Besides, she expected that the regular library visitors would just have to get used to these kinds of boisterous disturbances. Rose planned to insure that this was not the Doctor's last visit to see River, and - seeing as how she had already spent a lifetime married to a different version of the man once before - she suspected that they would be returning to The Library for years to come as the Doctor created increasingly outlandish and ridiculous ways to celebrate their anniversary.


	24. Chapter Twenty-Four

"So, where've we landed now, then?" Rose asked brightly as she skipped up the console room steps towards the TARDIS doors.

"Should look a bit familiar," was the Doctor's only cryptic reply as he traced her footsteps at his own leisurely pace.

Rose smiled wide as she threw open the ship's doors, eagerly awaiting their next adventure, but her grin quickly faded as she gazed out in confusion at the nondescript, grassy plains that surrounded them. "You sure about that ...?" she asked curiously as she took a second skeptical look at their surroundings. It seemed that the Doctor had parked them at the very edge of a long country road without a single house or car in view for miles.

The Doctor grumbled as he came up beside her and furrowed his brow at the scene before him. "That's not right," he declared moodily. "We're supposed to be at Trafalgar Square ..."

"Doesn't really look like how I remember it," Rose muttered sarcastically as she scanned the great expanse of sky that stretched out above them.

"But I'm _sure_ that I got the coordinates right ..." the Doctor murmured in bewildered confusion.

The TARDIS was making an odd, stuttering noise that hinted at bemused fondness as the Doctor leaned his forearm against the ship's doorway over Rose's head and glared out at the countryside with a sour expression.

"And why were you trying to take us to Trafalgar Square, anyway?" Rose asked as she crossed her arms against her chest and smiled up at him in amusement.

"I didn't _try_ anything," the Doctor replied, casting her an irritated look that did nothing to dim the mischievous spark in his eyes, "I _did_ ..."

But the rest of his prideful statement and a good portion of his ego were cut off as the TARDIS gave a great lurch, sending them both stumbling awkwardly against the edge of the doorway. Rose blinked and suddenly the ground was moving very quickly away from them as the ship ascended up into the air. They both cried out in surprise and the Doctor used both of his arms to pin Rose protectively against the doorframe as the ship rocked violently back and forth.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Rose shouted against the deafening sound of rushing wind that suddenly surrounded them.

"No idea!" he yelled back, not even attempting to hide his wide, excited smile as he glanced up and examined the helicopter that seemed to have picked up the TARDIS with some sort of crane-like mechanism.

The Doctor quickly ushered Rose back into the safety of the ship and then reached out to begin dialing the police box phone, bracing himself in the doorway with his free hand to keep from being jostled out. Rose couldn't hear the conversation that he was having over all of the noise, but the call was quickly cut short as the helicopter took a hard right and suddenly the Doctor went barreling out of the ship's open doors.

"Doctor!" Rose cried out in panic as she immediately rushed forward and grabbed his knees before he could slip away completely. _You're enjoying this_ way _too much_, she chided him over their newly-formed bond, but the Doctor refused to be scolded as he swung back and forth through the open air with all of the joy of a child on their favorite rollercoaster ride.

When his wiggling became too much for her grip and Rose felt his legs slip through her fingers, she had one brief flash of absolute panic before she realized that the Doctor was now hanging on to the bottom of his ship by his hands. Rose spent the rest of their turbulent flight over London filling his mind with all of the curse words that she knew that he wouldn't be able to hear her shouting at him over the noise of the helicopter.

When they finally touched down onto solid land once more, the Doctor leapt forward excitedly, his adrenaline echoing through Rose's thoughts and making it difficult for her to maintain her irritated scowl as she watched him bound into action. "Trafalgar Square!" he shouted grandly as he swept his arms around and met her gaze eagerly. "Told you I'd get us there!'

"That was even worse piloting than normal," Rose groaned as she stumbled ungracefully out of the TARDIS, which was still swinging unevenly a few feet above the ground. She noticed belatedly that they now seemed to be surrounded by a small squad of soldiers dressed all in black and outfitted with helmets and guns. Standing in the center of them all were a middle-aged blonde woman in a long black coat and a young scientist wrapped up in a layered, multi-colored scarf.

"Doctor," the blonde woman greeted them, proving herself to be the one in charge as she quickly stepped forward and took control of the situation, "as Chief Scientific Officer, may I extend the official apologies of UNIT ..."

"Kate Lethbridge Stewart, a word to the wise," the Doctor cut her off heatedly, "as I'm sure your father would have told you - I don't like being picked up!"

"'Lethbridge Stewart'?" Rose repeated, glancing from the Doctor, to the woman, and back again in confusion. She recognized the name from stories that her husband had told her over the years. "'UNIT'?" she added, recognizing that name, as well.

"I'm acting on instructions direct from the throne," the woman - Kate, it seemed - replied evenly as though neither of them had spoken. "Sealed orders from her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the First."

"Oh, Doctor," Rose sighed with a sarcastic roll of her eyes. "You do get around, don't you? First Queen Victoria, now this. So what is it this time? Were you knighted or exiled? Or was it both, again?"

The Doctor's only response was a heaved sigh and a meek, apologetic tug to her thoughts over their mental bond, which instantly raised her suspicions and did nothing at all to reassure her.

Kate - ever the professional, it seemed - ignored their silent exchange and ushered the two of them forward with promises of credentials as she led them up the steps towards the National Gallery.

"Been working with UNIT again, then, have you?" Rose muttered quietly under her breath as she warily scanned the line of soldiers that seemed to follow them wherever they went. She had heard stories about when the Doctor had worked for UNIT, but she had a hard time picturing him being on the same payroll as this lot. However, Rose didn't know whether it was the organization that had changed over the years, or if it was the Doctor, himself, who had changed.

"We've run into each other a few times recently," the Doctor replied with a casual shrug. "They investigate alien stuff, after all. We're bound to cross paths every now and then."

"Only _you_ would consider hanging from a helicopter 'crossing paths' with someone," Rose muttered sarcastically.

"They were just giving us a lift," the Doctor murmured, completely unrepentant and unruffled by their death-defying trip over London.

Rose opened her mouth to continue ribbing him, but her words were cut short as a pair of armed UNIT soldiers pulled back the large sheet that had been covering a single piece of art in the center of the room before them. The Doctor and Rose both instantly froze in place as they gazed up at the revealed oil painting in varying states of wonder.

Rose's own amazed awe was brought up short by the stab of fear that swept through the Doctor's thoughts and nearly took her breath away. Her gaze immediately snapped to his profile, all thoughts of the strange painting before them quickly disappearing as the Doctor's odd reaction instantly demanded her full attention.

"Elizabeth's credentials," Kate announced, seemingly unaware of the Doctor's sharp, visceral reaction.

"Doctor?" Rose asked in concern, her gaze never once leaving his face as she counted his quick, panicked breaths.

"No more ..." he muttered quietly.

"That's the title," Kate agreed matter-of-factly.

"I know the _title_," the Doctor hissed angrily.

"Also known as 'Gallifrey Falls'," the blonde woman continued simply, seeming unaffected by the Doctor's mercurial moods.

"This painting doesn't belong here, not in this time or place," the Doctor muttered quietly as though to himself. "It's the fall of Arcadia, Gallifrey's second city."

"Doctor, what is it?" Rose asked gently. "How is it doing that?" She finally dared a look back at the painting and eyed the depicted flames and smoke of the city that seemed to pop off of the canvas in stunning, impossible 3D.

She attempted to take a step closer to get a better look, but the Doctor's hand immediately reached for hers, quietly urging her back to his side. Rose could sense through his thoughts that he didn't want her anywhere near this painting and all that it portrayed. The urge to run was welling up within him, and it was taking all of his strength and willpower to remain standing there, blinking at the destruction that he had hoped he would never have to see again.

Rose called his name silently over their bond, attempting to ground him and offer him her own strength and confidence in order to ease his troubled mind.

"He was there ..." the Doctor breathed quietly, not taking his eyes off of the burning spires before them.

"Who was?" Rose asked gently.

"Me," he replied darkly. "The other me - the one I don't talk about. I've had many faces, many lives. I don't admit to all of them. There's one life I've tried very hard to forget. He was the Doctor who fought in the Time War, and _that_ was the day he did it." The Doctor nodded his head pointedly towards the painting as he squeezed Rose's fingers just a little bit tighter and didn't try to hide from her the wave of guilt and shame that swept through his mind.

"The day I did it," he continued quietly. "The day he killed them all. The last day of the Time War - the war to end all wars, between my people and the daleks. And in that battle there was a man with more blood on his hands than any other - a man who would commit a crime that would silence the universe. And that man was _me_."

All of the UNIT agents throughout the room had gone completely, preternaturally silent as the Doctor finished his morose declaration. Rose had to fight the urge to pull on the Doctor's hand and force him back into the safety and comfort of the TARDIS where she knew that she would be able to protect him from these dark, unwelcome memories.

"Why have you brought him here?" Rose demanded quietly, her tone like ice as she narrowed her eyes on Kate and hugged the Doctor's arm protectively to herself as though she could somehow shield him from the pain with her body alone.

"The painting only serves as Elizabeth's credentials - proof that the letter is from her," Kate replied, her voice softening slightly for the first time since Rose had met her. "It's not why you're here."

The Doctor heaved another small sigh as he finally broke his gaze away from the painting before them and looked down at Rose with an expression of apprehension. She gave him one small nod of encouragement, then released her tight grip on his hand so that he could open the sealed envelope that Kate had placed in his hands upon their arrival.

The letter provided no real information, however, and Rose narrowed her eyes suspiciously on the words "_gentle husband_". After just having said goodbye to River, and then completing her own alien marriage ritual, Rose wasn't exactly eager to meet _another_ one of the Doctor's wives.

"What happened?" the Doctor asked, ignoring Rose's sharp, annoyed thoughts and casting a curious look in Kate's direction as he and Rose finished reading the old letter.

"Easier to show you," the blonde woman replied, motioning for them both to follow her as she lead them towards the secret Under Gallery - a restricted area that just so happened to be sectioned off by another great oil painting, this one depicting Queen Elizabeth the First herself in all her regal glory sitting alongside a tall, skinny bloke wearing the face of Rose's dead husband.

"Oh, Doctor ..." Rose groaned in resignation as she looked up at the happy couple with a pained expression, "_please_ tell me you didn't ..."

It ended up being one of the UNIT soldiers guarding the secret passageway alongside the old, secret painting that quietly muttered under his breath what they were all already thinking - "So much for the 'virgin queen' ..."


	25. Chapter Twenty-Five

Unfortunately, the Under Gallery proved to be filled with only more questions and not very many answers as Kate led them into a room littered with shards of broken glass that seemed to have shattered off of the empty oil landscapes lining the wall before them.

"But ... how is that possible?" Rose asked as she gazed at the tablet that Kate had put in the Doctor's hands that showed the pictures as they once were - complete with still, miniature figures that were now nowhere to be seen. "Something's got out of the paintings."

"Lots of somethings," the Doctor agreed ominously. "Dangerous."

Suddenly, a loud hissing noise filled the room and a bright light began to strobe from somewhere behind them. The Doctor and Rose turned in unison to gaze at the swirling lines of golden light that seemed to form a sort of tunnel in the air above their heads.

"Oh, no, not now!" the Doctor groaned in frustration.

"Doctor, what is it?" Rose demanded, eyeing the disturbance nervously.

"No, not now, I'm _busy_!" he continued as though she hadn't spoken, glaring at the wispy golden tunnel as though it had personally offended him. "I remember this," he added as an aside to Rose, his eyes still trained on the anomaly before them. "Almost remember," he amended with a small shrug.

"Doctor, what are you talking about?" Rose asked in frustration, not at all liking the way that he was slowly approaching the thing as though he intended to jump headlong down the rabbit hole.

"Oh," the Doctor murmured, reaching for the fez that he had nicked from one of the Under Gallery's displays and then promptly donned earlier during their trip, "of course. This is where I come in." He stepped back without any further explanation and tossed the obnoxious accessory into the swirling light, where it immediately disappeared. Though Rose couldn't say that she mourned the loss of the dreaded fez, she did feel a sharp stab of fear as the Doctor immediately jumped in after it, shouting excitedly the entire time.

"Geronimo!"

"Doctor!" Rose cried as she desperately attempted to jump in after him, but Kate's grip was firm on her elbow, keeping her locked in place as she felt her mental connection with the Doctor thin and grow taught, like a rubber band being pulled almost to the point of snapping.

"Wait!" Kate hissed under her breath, her eyes narrowing as she attempted to make sense of the muttered voices emanating from the wormhole before them. "Listen."

The murmured words echoing through the room around them were indistinct and difficult to make out, but the familiarity of the voices made Rose's heart skip a beat as she leaned in closer towards the swirling light of the time fissure. "Doctor, is that you?" she called out curiously.

"Ah, hello, Clara," the Doctor called back breezily, his use of her fake name immediately alerting her to the fact that he was not alone. "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah, it's me. We can hear you," she replied quickly. "Where are you?"

"England, 1562."

Rose stopped breathing altogether as this second voice met her ears. She reached out to her mental bond on instinct, but was met only with the quiet regret and sympathy of her current Doctor on the other end of it. _I'm sorry, Rose,_ he murmured sadly, filling her thoughts with as much loving reassurance as he could manage through the distance that separated them.

"Doctor ...?" she finally breathed in quiet disbelief, both longing and dreading to hear the familiar voice of her dead husband once more.

"Yep," two separate voices answered in tandem.

"Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me ..." Rose sighed exasperatedly, rolling her eyes as a third Doctor suddenly seemed to join the first two. She found that she was bitterly disappointed to find that the third gravelly voice was one that she didn't recognize. She didn't realize until that exact moment that she had been hoping to hear a familiar Northern accent, but it seemed that the universe had supplied her with a different, even earlier version of the Doctor instead.

Whoever this new man was - he filled her current Doctor with absolute dread, which Rose could sense even over the great distance that separated them. She listened with rapt attention as the three Time Lords bickered amongst themselves and then were promptly taken prisoner by the woman who may or may not have been an alien from outer space posing as the Queen of England.

"Oh, but that man is clever," Kate murmured in awe from where she still stood next to Rose in the secluded room of the Under Gallery. "Come on," she commanded easily, motioning for Rose to follow her as she quickly turned on her heel to leave.

"Where are we going?" Rose asked nervously, hating the idea of leaving the wormhole behind and still desperately fighting back the urge to jump through it herself.

"My office," Kate replied matter-of-factly, "otherwise known as the Tower of London."

Luckily for them all, UNIT seemed to be an organization that moved very quickly, and it didn't take them long at all before Kate was ushering Rose into the top-secret area that she called the "Black Archives". The whole place had an eerie, uncomfortable atmosphere to it, and Rose couldn't shake the odd, itching sense of déjà vu that seemed to follow her every footstep as she and Kate hurried down the long, dark corridors.

"The Black Archive," Kate announced grandly as they went, "highest security rating on the planet. The entire staff have their memories wiped at the end of every shift. Automated memory filters in the ceiling."

"'Memory filters'?" Rose repeated dubiously. "Then ... how do you even know what's really down here? Wouldn't you just forget every time that you left?"

"Certain memories can be preserved, depending on your security rating," Kate replied evenly as she flashed her credentials and a man standing nearby instantly granted them access. "You have a top level security rating from your last visit. You'll be able to retain your knowledge of all that you see down here."

"Well, I obviously didn't remember the _last_ time," Rose grumbled as they entered the secure facility and she immediately laid eyes on a wall full of photos - some of them showing black-and-white security images of her and Kate walking through the Black Archive on a day that she had absolutely no memory of.

Rose also caught glimpses of other faces on the wall as well - some known, and some unfamiliar to her, with brightly colored strings that seemed to connect them all together in some sort of infinite, intricate web. It looked as though UNIT had been attempting to lay them all out in some sort of basic, chronological order. Rose held her breath as she slowly moved down the length of the wall, tracking back through the Doctor's history without her (she recognized the photos of River, Jenny, Vastra, and Strax as she went, as well as the couple who she had met in the dalek asylum - she had forgotten their names at first, but UNIT had helpfully labeled their images as Amy and Rory), until she got to a large gap that stood between one group of photos and the next. The area there was filled with varying pictures of a nineteen-year-old blonde with wide, brown eyes and a sunny, bright smile.

Rose swallowed thickly around the lump in her throat as she blinked away the sudden tears in her eyes and forced herself to focus back on Kate once more. It wouldn't do to waste time taking a walk down memory lane while the Doctor was trapped in a prison cell in the sixteenth-century with two other versions of himself. She told herself that she would have time enough to peruse the old pictures later.

She found Kate on the other side of the room, staring pointedly at an oddly familiar leather cuff that was propped up like a piece in a museum on a silver stand behind a wall of glass.

"What is that?" Rose asked warily, stepping forward to get a better look.

"Time travel," Kate replied ominously. "A vortex manipulator bequeathed to the UNIT archive by Captain Jack Harkness on the occasion of his death. Well, one of them, anyway."

Rose felt her heart drop into her stomach as she stared wide-eyed at the old vortex manipulator and tried very hard to get control over her erratic breath. All of the old secrets hidden down here in the Black Archive were quickly becoming too much for her, and she longed desperately for the Doctor - if only so that he could explain a little bit of what was going on.

"What do you mean 'one of them'?" Rose asked breathlessly, her voice little more than a whisper as tears began to sting the back of her eyes once more and threatened to spill over onto her cheeks.

Kate ignored Rose's question, however, as she moved around the glass panel and opened the door that would allow them to reach the old vortex manipulator. "This is how we're going to find the Doctor," she explained simply. "I don't have the activation code - the Doctor has always kept it hidden from us. Let's hope he changes his mind."

As if on cue, Kate's phone began to ring, but Rose couldn't bring herself to focus on the other woman's muttered conversation as she peered closely at the old leather cuff before her. It was exactly as she remembered it, though it looked lost and lonely without a certain rogue American time agent attached to it. She ran her fingers gently across the worn buttons and felt her heart ache for all that she had loved and lost in her long, long life.

Rose was so distracted by the old memories, that she didn't realize until it was almost too late that Kate and her companions were actually zygons in disguise. She watched in horror as the blonde woman before her morphed and changed into a giant red alien covered in suckers.

"Prepare to dispose of one more human," the creature hissed as it glared down at Rose. "We have acquired the device."

Kate's phone suddenly began to buzz from where the alien had abandoned it next to the vortex manipulator, shocking Rose into action as she quickly snatched it, memorized the short line of letters and digits, and hastily inputted them into the time traveling device. She slid the leather cuff around her hand, flashed the zygons her best imitation of Jack's old, cheeky grin, and pressed the final button that immediately zapped her out of existence.

\--------------------

When Rose opened her eyes again, she was standing alone in a long, dark hallway that looked distinctly medieval. She groaned as she pressed her hands to her head and swayed slightly on the spot, fighting to get her bearings back after the jarring experience of using a vortex manipulator for the first time. It all reminded her of her days of using the dimension cannon with Torchwood - which, in turn, just brought up more memories that she wasn't exactly eager to relive.

Suddenly, there was a gentle tug at the back of her mind that instantly grounded Rose's thoughts and reminded her of her current objective. She glanced up and set her eyes in the direction where she could feel the Doctor's presence emanating from and moved quickly towards him. Now that they were in the same time and place once more, their mental bond had come fully back online and she could clearly sense him just down the hallway, tucked away behind an old wooden door.

She could also sense that he wasn't alone, and Rose could feel the strange way that time was bending around the area as she stepped closer towards the prison cell that was currently holding three versions of the same man within it. There were voices murmuring quietly to one another on the other side of the door, and Rose could feel her Doctor's heartache like a stab in her own chest as she crept slowly forward and strained her ears to listen.

"Did you ever count?" the Doctor with the unfamiliar voice asked quietly.

"Count what?" Rose's Doctor replied gruffly.

"How many children there were on Gallifrey that day," the other man elaborated tersely.

Another shockwave of pain rolled over Rose and she squeezed her eyes shut tight as she silently reached out to her bondmate and attempted to console his troubled thoughts.

"I have absolutely no idea," the Doctor lied succinctly.

"How old are you now?" the other man insisted curiously.

"Ah, I don't know. I lose track," the Doctor replied irritatedly. "Twelve-hundred-and-something, I think - unless I'm lying. I can't remember if I'm lying about my age, that's how old I am."

Rose wondered if he _was_ lying - she had a direct link to the man's thoughts, and even she couldn't quite figure it out. The first time that she and the Doctor had reconnected in this universe, he had told her that he was a thousand-years-old. She knew for a fact that two hundred years hadn't passed for him since then, so it was clear that there was a disconnect somewhere in his story. However, it wasn't as though it mattered much - time and age never really did, when it came to the man who could change his face and keep on going into eternity.

"Four hundred years older than me," the gruff, unfamiliar voice replied, "and in all that time you've never even wondered how many there were? You never _once_ counted?"

The Doctor's anger flared, then, and Rose's hands fisted in frustration at her sides as she fought the urge to barrel into the room and throw her arms around him in a desperate attempt to shield him from his own pain.

"Tell me," he muttered coldly," what would be the point?"

"Two-point-four-seven-billion." The old, familiar voice stopped Rose's breath, just as it had done earlier in the day when she had heard it through the time fissure in the Under Gallery.

"You did count!" the younger Doctor shot back angrily.

"You _forgot_?" Rose's previous Doctor spat in contempt. "Four hundred years, is that all it takes?"

"I moved on," the Doctor lied again, his tone low and dangerous as a sensation of crushing guilt swept over him.

"_Where_?" the other Doctor snapped angrily. "Where can you be now that you can forget something like _that_?"

"Spoilers," the Doctor muttered quietly.

"No," the other Doctor growled dangerously. "No, no, no - for _once_, I'd like to know where I'm going."

"_No_," Rose's current Doctor snapped in reply, "you _really_ wouldn't."

And suddenly, Rose couldn't take it anymore. It was bad enough having one Doctor's self-hatred filling her thoughts without having to deal with all three of them arguing with each other over the weight of their shared regret. She needed to _do_ something - she needed to save her daft, precious alien from himself.

Rose pressed her hand to the old wooden door and tried not to be too surprised when it swung easily open, instantly granting her access to the large prison cell beyond. However, she did gasp in surprise when she realized that there weren't just three pairs of eyes staring back at her in dumbfounded shock, but _four_.

"Oh," Rose breathed as she went quickly down the line form her Doctor, to the face of her dead husband, to the old, weary-looking man sitting against the wall, and then to the young blonde woman leaning casually against his side.

"It's you ..." she muttered in disbelief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and forth for a long time trying to decide if I wanted to add Nine into this adventure or not. I love him so, so much and I really wanted him to come along for the reunion ride, but I eventually decided that it would just make this already incredibly long fic even more drawn-out, so I had to leave him out and stick with the canon cast. I might do a separate 50th-fix-it sometime in the future and add him in then. I just really, REALLY want Chris to come back to Doctor Who. D'X


	26. Chapter Twenty-Six

"This one knows me," the Bad Wolf murmured, smirking up at Rose with a look of dark amusement. Rose blinked hard, half-expecting the image to fade and disappear before her eyes, but the woman remained as solid and life-like as though she were actually there, standing in the room with them.

"You ... you can _see_ her?" the younger Doctor asked as he glanced from the Bad Wolf to Rose and back again in bewilderment.

"What is _she_ doing here?" Rose demanded breathlessly, staring wide-eyed into the familiar features of her own, nineteen-year-old face. The last few times that Rose had seen the Bad Wolf, she had been a strange, otherworldly glowing creature with indistinguishable, nondescript features. This time, however, it was like looking into a mirror of the past, and the effect was spooky to say the least.

"You ... _know_ her?" the unfamiliar Doctor in leather asked in surprise.

_What's going on?_ Rose's current Doctor asked curiously, using their bond to speak directly into her mind.

"It's ... it's _her_, it's ..." But Rose's stuttering words were cut off as the young blonde woman suddenly shot to her feet and placed a single finger to her lips, motioning for Rose to be silent.

"I'm not who you think I am," the Bad Wolf murmured quietly. "I took this form for a purpose. The others can't see me, only this one." She motioned towards the Doctor at her side, who was gazing between them both with a look of wide-eyed shock.

Rose could still feel her current Doctor silently pulling at the back of her thoughts in an attempt to help her to focus so that she could explain to him what was going on. However, there was no reasonable explanation that Rose could come up with to answer him as she blinked in confusion at the familiar features of the blonde-haired woman. The creature claimed that she wasn't the Bad Wolf, but what else could she possibly be?

As Rose continued to hold her silence, the Doctor in the bowtie slowly stepped up to her side, his hand wrapping securely around her own as he warily studied the empty space that Rose and the Doctor in leather were currently staring intently at.

_What is it? What's there?_ he asked curiously.

"Oi! Stop that!" They all turned in unison at the interruption and Rose felt her heart skip a beat in her chest as her gaze landed once more on the familiar features of the Doctor as he once was. "We can all hear that, you know," he muttered as he openly glared at the Doctor who was currently holding Rose's hand. "We're all the same person, we're linked telepathically."

His dark brown eyes slid to Rose then, and he looked her up and down critically as he continued, "Who's this, then? And why did you ...?"

"Spoilers," Rose's Doctor cut in again, taking a half-step forward as though he intended to block Rose completely from the view of the other two men in the room.

"It's okay, Doctor," Rose piped up quietly, giving her bondmate's fingers a squeeze as she looked at each of the men in turn. She was eager to tell the younger Doctor the truth of who she was - if for no other reason than to erase that cold, dark look from off of his face.

She was about to open her mouth and do just that when the Doctor at her side suddenly tightened his grip on her hand and muttered anxiously over their bond, _No, it's not safe. He can't know ..._

"Okay, you really have to stop that," the Doctor in pinstripes snapped irritably as he reached up with one hand and rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck.

"You ... you _bonded_ with someone?" the Doctor in leather gasped in disbelief. "With a _human_? How is that even possible?"

Both of the older Doctors turned to glare at the youngest version of himself, but neither of them made any attempt to rush to Rose's defense or explain themselves.

"Oh, but this is _fantastic_!" the Bad Wolf woman cried in excitement, clapping her hands together in glee and letting out a short bark of laughter that rang off of the stone walls around them. "I knew I picked this form for a reason. This is just _too perfect_!"

"When does this happen, then?" the Doctor in pinstripes piped up tersely, unknowingly cutting the invisible woman off as he continued to eye Rose up and down with a look of utter distrust and distaste. "And who are you, eh? Where do you come from?"

"It's nothing that you need to worry about," the Doctor in the bowtie growled defensively as he took another step forward to place himself more directly between Rose and his past self.

"Oh?" the younger Doctor asked primly. "Am I not allowed to be curious about who my future _wife_ is?" He hurled the word like it was an accusation, and Rose felt it like a slap to the face. She couldn't help but flinch slightly as she stared hard at the familiar features of the man who had tried so desperately to give her her happy ever after. How was he supposed to know that the Bad Wolf wasn't going to allow Rose to live a natural, human life?

"We've met before, Doctor," she muttered quietly, meeting the younger man's eyes directly and forcing herself not to show all of the hurt that she could feel deep within her chest as he glared openly at her. "You don't have to worry, I'm not just some random human ..."

"We've never met before," the Doctor replied darkly, furrowing his brows at her in confusion. "I think I'd remember that."

Rose sighed as she desperately reached once more for the easy familiarity of her telepathic bond. _Are you sure I can't tell him ...?_ she asked silently, gritting her teeth together in frustration as she continued to stare down the face of the man that she had already spent a lifetime with in her parallel world.

"Tell me _what_?" the Doctor in pinstripes demanded at the same time that the Doctor in leather pressed the heel of one of his hands to his forehead and murmured "That really is _quite_ distracting. It's like ... telepathic feedback."

"Sorry," Rose muttered awkwardly, casting her gaze to the ground in embarrassment as she shuffled her weight between her feet and silently eyed the two men who were fidgeting uncomfortably from unwelcome intrusion of her silent communication.

_Don't be sorry,_ Rose's Doctor replied, squeezing her fingers reassuringly and pointedly using their mental connection despite the other two men's protests. "They're just jealous," he added out loud, flashing each of them a teasing smirk.

"Guess you really have moved on," the Doctor in pinstripes replied darkly. "First you forgot the Time war, and now ... _this_." He gestured rudely towards Rose and then shoved his hands firmly into his pockets as he continued to glare between the two of them.

Rose's Doctor immediately released her hand so that he could step forward and meet his younger self's eye with an intimidating, dangerous look. "You don't know what you're talking about," he growled, his voice low and threatening while at the same time he used his telepathic bond to flood Rose's mind with silent, soothing reassurances. The drastic disconnect was making her head spin and Rose fidgeted awkwardly on the spot where the Doctor had left her, unsure of how to address any of them in this small room where time was bending so unnaturally all around them.

"My, my, you've certainly got them all worked up now," the Bad Wolf woman muttered, clicking her tongue as she crossed her arms and surveyed the two men who were standing practically toe-to-toe and glaring daggers at one another.

_Who_ are _you_? Rose asked her silently, narrowing her eyes on the young woman.

The other woman's only answer was another sly, knowing smirk as she nodded back towards the two older Doctors and muttered, "Best sort your men out, there, _Clara_. Wouldn't do to have him strangle himself. The paradoxes alone would be an absolute nightmare ..."

Rose wasted no more time as she stepped up between the two men, placing her hand on either one of their chests as she urged them to step apart and drop it. "Alright, Doctor, that's enough," she insisted, addressing them both. "There'll be time enough to sort all of this out later. For now ..."

But her words trailed off into silence as she blinked and took a closer look at the Doctor in pinstripes. She hadn't noticed it earlier in the dim lighting, but now that she was standing closer and her fingers were brushing up against his chest, her gaze caught and held on the unfamiliar tie that was wrapped around his neck. She had seen this version of the Doctor wear dozens of different ties throughout the time that she had known him in this world and the other, but she was used to seeing simple, geometric patterns or swirling shapes that were reminiscent of the time vortex itself.

This tie, however, was new - and it was unlike anything she had ever seen him wear before. It was black and decorated with pale blue roses and dark, maroon-colored leaves. Seeing her own namesake worn like it was a symbol of mourning, tucked tightly between the Doctor's two hearts, made Rose's breath catch on something sharp and painful in her chest. She instantly felt her connection with her current Doctor fill with his own regret and sympathy as he quickly caught on to what she was staring at, and he wasted no time in taking her hand in his once more as he pulled her gently back to his side.

"What is it?" the Doctor in pinstripes asked warily, eyeing Rose and his older self suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing, it's just ... your tie ..." she muttered lamely, still unable to take her eyes off of the dark floral pattern before her.

The Doctor looked down at himself for a moment and then scrunched up his nose in confusion as he turned back to meet Rose's gaze again. "My tie?" he repeated dubiously. "What's wrong with my tie?" His hands raised to his neck where he grasped the strip of fabric defensively, as though he were afraid that she might try to mock the small symbol that he wore as though it were battle armor.

"Nothing! There's nothing wrong with it," Rose amended quickly, forcing herself to glance away from the blue roses and meet his eyes directly once more. "I like it," she added with a soft smile. "It's very nice."

The younger Doctor hummed thoughtfully under his breath as he looked down his nose at her, still silently assessing every detail of her expression. Rose felt a subtle tug against the edge of her mind, but her eyes widened in surprise as she realized that it wasn't her husband who was pulling curiously against her - or, at least, it wasn't her _current_ husband.

"Oi!" the Doctor in the bowtie cried indignantly as he stepped once more between Rose and his past self, shielding her defensively behind his body.

"Alright, alright, calm down," the Doctor in pinstripes grumbled awkwardly. "I wasn't trying to do anything. I was just ... curious, is all."

"Well, kindly keep your thoughts to _yourself_, if you don't mind," Rose's Doctor growled pointedly.

"Oh, you're one to talk!" his younger self snapped in irritation. "Swanning in here and parading around with your quaint little telepathic bond."

"I think you're both mad," the Doctor in leather suddenly piped up from where he had been watching them at the edge of the room. "Been spending too much time on earth, by the look of things. When did you two get so ... _sentimental_?"

Both of the older Doctors instantly opened their mouths to argue, but Rose effectively silenced them all again before another row could break out. "Alright! Okay, yes, lots to discuss, here. But first, and most important, is probably escape, right?"

All three of the Doctors grumbled under their breaths and scuffed their feet petulantly as they grudgingly conceded her point.

"So ... how long have you three been down here, sitting behind an unlocked door?" she asked. When the three men gave her no response other than irritated scowls and sheepish silence, Rose rolled her eyes and sighed, "Well, _some_ things certainly never change, do they?"

"Oi, we were working on it!" the Doctor in the bowtie muttered defensively.

"It really should have been locked," The Doctor in leather grumbled in agreement. "Why wasn't it locked?"

"Because I was fascinated to see what you would do upon escaping," an unfamiliar female voice piped up primly. Rose turned and felt her eyes go wide as she stared at the red-headed woman dressed in period clothes and covered in gold finery standing behind her. "I understand you're rather fond of this world," the zygon posing as Queen Elizabeth murmured amusedly. "It's time, I think, you saw what's going to happen to it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize until this most recent rewatch of the 50th Anniversary the blue rose tie that Ten is wearing throughout the special. It was such a beautiful, intricate detail and I'm so glad that I caught it this time around. After all of these years, Doctor Who still manages to be a show that constantly surprises me!


	27. Chapter Twenty-Seven

Fortunately, the Queen of England ended up _not_ being a red alien from space covered in suckers. Unfortunately, that meant that Rose had to sit through a wedding in which the groom happened to be (strangely enough) both her late and current husband.

Rose couldn't decide if she was more angered or depressed by the odd situation that she found herself in, so she settled for staring blankly at the unusual wedding ceremony going on around her while her current Doctor fidgeted awkwardly next to her.

"Is there ... a lot of this in the future?" the youngest Doctor asked curiously.

"It does start to happen, yeah," Rose muttered sardonically.

_You love it,_ Rose's Doctor reminded her, tugging pointedly on the mental connection that linked them together as he flashed her a playful smile out of the corner of his eye.

_Alright, fine, it's not_ all _bad_, Rose admitted, immediately mirroring his flirtatious grin.

The Doctor in pinstripes pulled away from the deep, passionate kiss that the queen had trapped him in with a roll of his eyes and flashed a distinctly annoyed look in their direction before immediately darting back into the welcome safety of his TARDIS.

As Rose and the other two Doctors moved to follow him, she noticed for the first time that the old ship looked oddly battered and rough around the edges. The TARDIS greeted her with the same warm welcome as always, but there was an odd, minor chord to her usual melody that Rose wasn't used to hearing. She flashed her Doctor a questioning look as they all crossed the threshold onto the old time ship, but he simply shook his head silently in her direction, making it clear that he would explain later.

"You let this place go a bit," the Doctor in leather grumbled as they finally let the TARDIS doors close shut behind them.

"Ah, it's his grunge phase," the Doctor in the bowtie replied blithely, "he grows out of it."

"Don't listen to them," the Doctor in pinstripes cooed as he lightly patted the old, green time rotor.

"I love it," Rose piped up, smiling widely as she danced across the familiar metal grating and ran her hands adoringly across the old control set-up. "I think it's fantastic."

She fell into contemplative silence, then, as she was sharply reminded once more of the one face that was missing in this line-up of Doctors. Rose ached for the man who had first invited her to stay - the one who had opened her eyes to the stars and all of the majesty that the universe held. The one that she had originally fallen in love with.

When the moment of silence reigned for just a moment too long, Rose glanced up to see that all three men were watching her carefully. Her current Doctor's eyes were wide and sad as he silently absorbed Rose's distant longing and attempted to soothe her thoughts with promises of love and devotion that outlasted his many, changing faces. The Doctor in pinstripes was eyeing her with renewed interest, paying particular attention to the way that she ran her hands across his ship's controls with easy familiarity. The youngest Doctor in leather was still watching her as though he were attempting to work out a particularly difficult-to-solve puzzle, his brows furrowed in concentration.

Before Rose could come up with something to say in order to break the awkward tension, there was a bright flash of light as the console sparked. The old TARDIS desktop blinked around them and suddenly they were all standing in a completely different room. When it blinked a second time, Rose was able to make out the sleek, metal surfaces and the blue-green time rotor of her Doctor's current TARDIS.

"Oh, you've redecorated," the Doctor in pinstripes muttered, casting an unamused grimace at their new surroundings. "I don't like it." He met Rose's gaze from across the room and she flashed him an amused smile, which only grew when he answered her with a playful smirk of his own.

\--------------------

Rose wasted no time in directing the three men back to the Black Archive, but Kate and the zygons made sure that it would be impossible to land the TARDIS there as they had planned. Instead, the youngest Doctor reminded them of the spare stasis cube that they had picked up from Queen Elizabeth, and the four of them entered into the secure, underground archives in a blaze of fire and explosions that could only ever come from having three Doctors together in the same place.

After the trio of Time Lords had managed to save the planet (with five seconds to spare) and ensured that peace talks between the zygons and the humans would go ahead as planned, the group finally had a few moments to breathe and reorganize themselves.

Rose found that she immediately felt herself gravitating towards the one Doctor who she still hadn't been properly introduced to yet. He was sitting alone, staring off into space with a gloomy expression that Rose immediately recognized from his future regenerations. She knew that it wouldn't do for him to be by himself when he was in such a state, so she decided to keep him company, just as she always did when he was in these kinds of moods.

"Hello," she greeted him quietly, pulling up a chair as close to him as she thought she could safely get away with.

"Hello," he replied, flashing her a weary smile as he propped his chin up on his free hand.

"I feel like we sort of skipped over introductions today," Rose muttered with a small, apologetic shrug. "I'm ... well, it's complicated ..." She furrowed her brow at the ground as she searched for the right words to say. She didn't want to lie to him - she had done far too much of that already - but she knew that she couldn't tell him the truth, either, and risk causing some sort of disastrous paradox.

However, the Doctor simply sighed and shook his head as he replied, "I find that these sorts of things often are."

"Sorry?" Rose asked in quiet confusion.

"Tell me, my dear," he muttered quietly, "when do we meet? It's clear that you're part of my future. Do I ... really have to wait four hundred years?"

Rose flashed him a small, sad smile as she slowly shook her head. "No, not four hundred years," she replied gently. "But it does take some time."

"You've never met me before," the Doctor sighed, nodding dejectedly as he put together the words that Rose couldn't quite bring herself to say. "Not this face, at least. Could be another century or more until ..." His words trailed off and his brow furrowed as he stared hard at a spot somewhere over Rose's shoulder.

When she turned to follow his gaze, she noticed the invisible woman who was still wearing Rose's own nineteen-year-old face and leaning casually against the wall behind them. "Who is she, then?" Rose asked curiously as she narrowed her eyes on the strange creature.

"I thought you knew her," the Doctor replied dismissively.

"I know the face that she's wearing," Rose admitted, shivering slightly despite herself as the Bad Wolf-woman flashed her a knowing smile.

"She's a weapon," the Doctor admitted quietly, his voice little more than a whisper. The odd, dark tone that entered into his voice immediately captured Rose's full attention, and she turned back to meet his eyes once more, completely ignoring the strange other woman.

"You're still in the Time War," she murmured in disbelief as she scanned over his weary expression.

The Doctor's eyes - brown, this time, though the color had never really mattered to her - were filled with a sadness and fear that she hadn't seen in a very, very long time. "You don't have to do it, you know," she reminded him quietly. "I know what you're planning, but you don't have to do it."

"You're very sure of yourself," he muttered, the hopelessness in his tone telling her that he had absolutely no faith in her words.

"We meet not long after, you know," Rose continued, hoping to stir up some small seed of hope within him. "Well, not long for _you_, anyway - a lifetime for me. But I remember those early days. I remember them well. I remember how sharp and painful your regret was then, and I know how it still haunts you, even now."

"How many worlds has his regret saved, do you think?" the younger Doctor asked pointedly.

Rose shook her head slightly as she replied, "Hundreds, thousands - who knows?"

"And you think I should change all of that?" the Doctor asked quietly, looking deep into her eyes as though he were begging for her to help release him from this awful, terrible burden. "You think I should put my own people above all of them?"

"No, Doctor," Rose replied, shaking her head sadly as she forced herself to meet his gaze with as much earnestness as she could manage. "But you don't have to do it alone."

"Oh, no, my dear," he sighed, leaning forward and hesitating for just a moment before he allowed himself to bridge the space between them and take her hand in his own. "I would not dare. Out of all of the people in all of the worlds, I suspect that _you_, most of all, must be kept safe."

He flashed her another small, sad smile, before he turned to look at the young blonde woman behind her once more. "I'm ready," he stated resolutely. And then, in the blink of an eye, they were both gone.

\--------------------

Rose was on her feet immediately, wasting no time in gathering up both of the remaining Doctors and forcing them into their TARDISes in order to chase after the man who was about to make the worst decision of their collective lives.

"We can't stop him, you know," the younger Doctor reminded Rose grimly. "He has to do this - it _has_ to happen this way."

"Doctor, I know that you have no reason to trust me right now," she replied tersely as she watched him hesitate outside of his ship's doors and quietly regard her, "I know that you don't know me, but I know you. I know that, despite what you may wish, you still remember that day that you did it. And I know that, more than anything, you wished that you hadn't had to make that decision alone."

The younger Doctor's jaw tightened as he cast another long, thoughtful look in her direction. She was pleased to note that some of the suspicion had left his brown eyes, but it was clear that he still didn't quite trust her. However, he finally seemed to accept the wisdom of her words and he nodded resolutely as they both stepped into their respective TARDISes and set their destination for Gallifrey.

"Thank you," Rose's current Doctor muttered quietly as their old ship whirled and groaned around them, adding her own heartbroken lament to the Doctor's suffering.

"For what?" Rose asked, eyeing him hesitantly from where she stood across the console from him. His head was hung down between his hunched shoulders and she couldn't quite catch his expression, but she could feel the deep ache in his thoughts through their bond.

"For being there," he replied, finally glancing up to meet her eye so that she could clearly see all of his heartfelt gratitude. "It's coming back in pieces, the memories of this day," he continued thoughtfully. "I didn't give you a single good reason to help me, but you still did - you still _are_."

Rose flashed the Doctor a small, sad smile as she crossed the space between them and gently pressed her lips to his cheek in a quick kiss. "Always," she vowed quietly as she stepped back and looked deep into his eyes, making sure that he understood the depth and sincerity of her commitment.

The TARDIS had come to a quiet halt around them, as though she were attempting not to shatter the moment as the Doctor and Rose stared warily at the ship's doors, both of them hesitating to be the first one to open them.

Rose could feel the fear and sadness that seemed to fill the atmosphere the small, sunlit barn that they had touched down in the second that she took her first ever steps onto the one planet that she had never expected to visit. She could feel the Doctor's wild, terrified thoughts clambering through their bond, and she knew that the same sensations were echoing through two other versions of himself as well.

Rose bit the inside of her cheek in order to keep herself still and silent as she watched the Doctor with tracks of helpless tears spilling from her eyes. She listened intently as they all quietly regarded one another and her mind desperately reached for any other alternative that wouldn't have to end in _this_.

_Help them_, she thought desperately, casting her glance towards the blonde-haired woman who was sitting on a nearby crate and looking down at them all with quiet interest.

"I have," the creature responded cryptically, her eyes flashing gold in another imitation of the Bad Wolf.

Rose gritted her teeth in annoyance as she forced her gaze back to the three men in front of her. Well, if no one else was going to do anything, then she supposed that _she_ would have to ... She forced her limbs into action as she rounded the big, flower-like red button that stood in the center of the room and placed herself firmly in front of the one remaining opening, standing directly across from the Doctor in leather, and in between the two different versions of her husband.

"What are you doing?" her current Doctor asked in concern, but Rose silenced his words as she quickly filled their bond with the overwhelming amount of love and trust that was currently filling up her chest and making it hard for her to breathe. For once, neither of the other Doctors complained about their telepathic communication as all three of them sighed and let the tense lines of their shoulders relax slightly.

However, the small moment of relief was quickly put to an end as the Bad Wolf-woman instantly turned their surroundings into a waking nightmare - showing them the cities of Gallifrey burning and the families screaming in fear as war raged through the skies around them. By the time that her vision had come to an end, all four of them could feel a grim, stubborn determination settling across the tense atmosphere of the barn.

"You're not _actually_ suggesting that we change our own, personal history?" the Doctor in pinstripes asked in disbelief as he furrowed his brow at his future self.

"We change history all the time," the Doctor in the bowtie reminded him flippantly. "I'm suggesting far worse."

As realization slowly began to dawn on each of them one at a time, the Doctor in leather threw up his hands in excitement as he exclaimed cryptically, "She didn't show me any old future, she showed me _exactly_ the future I needed to see!"

"Eh?" the Doctor in the bowtie asked in confusion. "Who did?"

"Oh, Bad Wolf girl, I could _kiss_ you!" the youngest Doctor continued loudly, ignoring the way that the other two Doctors instantly paled and turned to stare at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"Yeah, that's gonna happen," the blonde girl atop the crate replied gleefully.

"Oi!" Rose hissed under her breath, flashing a glare in the other woman's direction. "Spoilers!"

But Rose had to admit that it was worth it, just to see the wide-eyed looks that the two older versions of the Doctor were currently casting at their younger self. Timelines were funny, sometimes, and Rose found that she quite enjoyed being on the right side of them for once.


	28. Chapter Twenty-Eight

"I don't suppose we'll know if we _actually_ succeeded," the youngest Doctor murmured thoughtfully after they had finished locking Gallifrey away into a single moment of time and had reconvened for a cup of tea back at the National Gallery. "But at worst ... we failed doing the right thing, as opposed to succeeding in doing the wrong."

Rose smiled brightly up at him from where she sat at his side and reached forward to take his free hand in her own. The youngest Doctor leveled his gaze on her pensively for a moment before he continued, "I won't remember this, will I? I won't remember that I tried to save Gallifrey, rather than burn it ..."

"The time streams are out of sync," Rose's Doctor agreed quietly from where he stood before them. "You can't retain it, no."

"It'll all work out in the end, though," Rose reminded him, giving his hand a comforting squeeze and flashing him another bright smile. "You'll grow up and turn into them and get to relive it all over again from the other side." She nodded her head encouragingly towards where his two future selves stood, but the Doctor in leather didn't bother to spare them a second look. He was too busy staring intently at Rose - it was as though he were putting the last few pieces of his mental puzzle together and he had finally caught a glimpse of what the final picture looked like.

"I also suppose that I have _you_ to look forward to as well, my dear," he added quietly, his brown eyes gazing at her searchingly, as though he were looking for those last few, misplaced pieces.

"That, too," Rose agreed, giggling lightly as she leaned forward and placed a firm, lingering kiss to his cheek.

Before she realized what was happening, her bond flared instinctively, not seeming to be able to make any sort of differentiation between the man who barely knew her and the man that he would one day become. Rose and the Doctor both gasped in surprise as a jolt of electricity shot through them at the exact same moment, and Rose was distinctly aware of the fact that the two older versions of the Doctor were staring at the two of them in wide-eyed wonder.

She ignored them, however, as another smile stretched over her face and she leaned in to place another light kiss against the Doctor's cheek in the exact same spot as before. "To the days to come," she whispered quietly, her words meant just for him. "They're gonna be absolutely _fantastic_."

"Oh, I don't doubt it," he murmured appreciatively as she finally leaned back and met his gaze again. Rose was pleased to note that the youngest Doctor's voice had gone a bit breathless and he seemed to have to force himself to meet her eye as he slowly scanned over her features one last time, as though he were attempting to memorize each and every single detail. After a moment of this, he gave her hand one last final squeeze, nodded his goodbye to his future selves, and then stepped back into his TARDIS.

"Thank you," he murmured as he met Rose's gaze one last time. He opened his mouth as though he wanted to say more, but seemed to think better of it and simply let his ship's doors fall closed with a small, parting grin instead. The TARDIS's engines groaned to life a moment later, and within seconds, the Doctor in leather was gone.

"I won't remember, either," the Doctor in pinstripes piped up as soon as the room around them had grown still once more, "so you might as well tell me."

"Tell you what?" Rose asked, meeting his assessing gaze cautiously as she glanced up at him from where she sat.

He took a step closer so that his intimidating height was even more pronounced as he stood before her. "Who _are_ you?" he muttered quietly. Rose could feel his mind just on the edges of her thoughts once more, as though he longed to reach out and seize the answers for himself, but he couldn't quite seem to force himself to cross that line.

Rose immediately dropped her gaze in response to the younger Doctor's direction question before chancing a look at her current Doctor from out of the corner of her eye. He sighed heavily in resignation, but eventually nodded, indicating that it would be safe to reveal this one, final secret.

Rose stood shakily to her feet, her gaze hesitant as she glanced up at the man who she had dedicated a whole lifetime to back in her old world. Unable to meet his narrowed, curious gaze for very long, she dropped her eyes to the tie that she had so admired back in the prison cell in the Tower of London.

"That really is a great tie," she muttered thoughtfully, stepping forward and raising her hand so that she could trace the petals of one of the blue roses with her fingertips. "I'm assuming you're pretty far along in your timeline. I think it's probably already all happened for you ..."

"What has? What's happened?" he murmured, watching her expression warily as Rose continued to stare intently at the tiny blue flowers.

"The metacrisis," she finally replied, her voice little more than a whisper.

The Doctor stiffened and Rose immediately let her eyes snap up to his once more, her heart pounding in fear of what she might see in his expression. He was watching her with the same look of guarded suspicion that he had been wearing ever since she had first laid eyes on him back in that old prison cell, but there was something else to it now, too - something like recognition.

"How can you know about that?" he whispered breathlessly.

"That woman ... the one you left behind on that beach in Norway," Rose replied haltingly, "she lived out the rest of her life with your clone. They had a long, happy marriage doing what they always did - helping people and saving the world in a hundred different ways. They loved each other very, very much, and they had decades of joy that they shared with one another."

"How? How can you know that?" the Doctor demanded, his voice turning desperate as he stared down at her with dark intensity.

"Because ... that woman died," Rose explained slowly, feeling tears welling up in her eyes as she forced herself to meet his gaze. "And then ... she became me."

"You?" the Doctor repeated, furrowing his brow at her in confusion.

Rose nodded and bit her lip nervously, feeling the first of her tears break free and slip down her cheek as she stared up at the man who she loved and desperately begged for him to accept her.

Suddenly, the Doctor's eyes widened in shock and one of his hands raised to her cheek as he stared deep into her eyes, as though he had found something precious there that he hadn't even dared to dream could be possible. "Rose ...?" he breathed in quiet wonder.

Rose choked on a sob before she threw her arms around his neck and brought him in to a crushing hug, which he immediately returned as soon as he had recovered from his numbing shock.

"How can it be you? How can you be _back_?" he asked in breathless disbelief as he wrapped his arms tight around her middle and buried his nose in her hair.

"Long story," she muttered, laughing through her tears as she clung tight to him. "Doesn't really matter, anyway." She forced herself to release her hold on his neck as she took a step back to look up at his familiar features once more. "What matters is that you have a lot to look forward to."

"It certainly looks that way," he agreed, his gaze turning suspicious once more as he turned to narrow his eyes at Rose's current Doctor.

"I'll be seeing you soon," Rose promised, standing on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his cheek, just as she had done with his younger self. "Be safe," she sighed, wondering exactly how far along he was in his timeline and when, exactly, he would be turning into the man in the bowtie who was currently standing behind her.

The Doctor stared at her for another long moment in silence before bending down and pressing a quick, chaste kiss to the very edge of her lips. However, the brief touch was all that he needed to instantly find the mental bond that she had been teasing him with all day, and he quickly ran his thoughts over it in a gentle caress that made Rose's knees go weak.

"To the days to come," he whispered, his breath ghosting across her face as Rose felt the sharp stab of his yearning in her own gut. Before she could attempt to reach out and reassure him as she wanted to, he stepped back, flashed her a quick wink, and then sprinted back into his own TARDIS before he became too tempted to do something reckless and really screw up the timelines.

"Thats them gone, then," the Doctor muttered as the second TARDIS slowly blinked out of sight and disappeared. "Everything back to normal."

"'Normal'?" Rose repeated, turning to flash the Doctor a sarcastic look as she crossed her arms against her chest and spun around to face him. "Since when do _you_ do 'normal'? Since when have you _ever_ done '_normal_'? I just said goodbye to two different versions of you who are probably off to go regenerate into to _more_ different versions of you. Not a whole lot of '_normal_' in that."

The Doctor smiled and nodded in agreement, but there was still a deep, profound sadness in his eyes as he turned once more towards the painting that stood on the opposite wall - it was the one depicting the fall of Arcadia, the battle filled with fire and smoke that was now frozen forever somewhere up there in space where no one would ever find it.

Rose heaved a soft sigh as she stepped up to his side, slipping her hand into his and resting her head against his shoulder. "It's still out there, somewhere," she reminded him quietly. "We could go and look for it, if you wanted to."

"Maybe ..." the Doctor muttered, his voice giving away nothing at all as he flashed the painting another small, distant smile.

"Doctor?" Rose asked as she quietly studied the frozen image of war before her. "Back on Gallifrey, when you were freezing the planet ... I heard you talking to the others. I saw all of the other TARDISes on the monitor."

"Mmm?" the Doctor hummed leadingly as his gaze continued to roam over the bigger-on-the-inside Time Lord painting before them.

"Doctor, there were thirteen ships ..." Rose reminded him pointedly. "All eleven different versions of you, plus the Doctor I met today, and ... one more. Thirteen different Doctors ..."

"So there were," he muttered quietly, his voice sounding vague and disinterested.

"So?" Rose continued to press him, squeezing his hand and tugging at their mental bond as she quietly begged him for more. "Who was that last one? The thirteenth Doctor, who was he?"

"Don't know," the Doctor murmured, turning to press a kiss against her hair as he filled her thoughts with peace and contentment and silently urged her to stay here in the present with him. "That's kind of the point, isn't it? He's the future. Those are spoilers."

"So ... you're not even the least bit curious?" Rose asked, refusing to let him simply brush off the dangerous possibilities that loomed before him. It was clear that there was another man coming to replace the Doctor who was holding her hand now, but neither of them could possibly know how far down the future that was or what would happen that would trigger the events of his next regeneration.

"Why should I be curious?" the Doctor asked teasingly. "Are you? Afraid that he'll be more handsome than me? Or are you worried that I'll go all old and gray?"

Rose tugged playfully at the Doctor's arm as she giggled into his shoulder. "Come on, Doctor - surely you know me better than that by now," she muttered jokingly. "You're gonna have to do a lot worse than 'old and gray' to get me to leave."

The Doctor chuckled as he gently squeezed her hand in his and then slowly turned to face her. The smile that he gave her was soft and almost rueful as she felt him quietly bottle up all of their collective fears for the future and store them away to contemplate on another day.

"To the days to come?" he asked, his eyes sparkling as he smiled down at her as though she were the answer to a long, lost prayer - a prayer four-hundred-years in the making, if his measuring of time was to be believed.

"To the days to come," Rose agreed quietly, filling their shared bond with enough love and devotion to last them both for at least a few more centuries to come.

The Doctor leaned forward and sealed their promise with a long, lingering kiss and Rose found that she really didn't fear for the future after all - not as long as he was guaranteed to be in it.


	29. Chapter Twenty-Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In which Rose tries very hard to be normal and the Doctor proves once and for all why we can't have nice things.

After meeting all twelve versions of the Doctor and helping him to freeze his home planet away in a single second of time instead of burning it and killing billions of his people, Rose begrudgingly had to admit that she was longing for a scene that was a little bit more domestic for once. That's how she ended up making plans with the Maitlands for Christmas dinner, and effectively ensuring that she and the Doctor would spend their first holiday reunited in this universe together on Earth, just like the old days (though hopefully without the added threat of an alien invasion, this time).

However, the Doctor couldn't be persuaded into sticking around for the preparations, and Rose seemed to have forgotten that a normal Earth Christmas included cooking a full turkey dinner for her small family of five. George was also out of the house on some sort of last-minute business for the entirety of the day, so that left Rose alone with nothing more than a disaster of a kitchen and two obstinate, unhelpful teenagers.

"There's absolutely _no way_ that thing is going to be done in time," Angie muttered pessimistically as Rose opened the oven and poked at the underdone turkey for the fifth time in as many minutes.

"Are you sure you followed the instructions?" Artie asked curiously as he peered over her shoulder.

"Yes! Of course I did! Of course I followed the instructions!" Rose lied, letting the door to the oven slam back shut and burying her head dejectedly into the oven mitts that were currently covering her hands. "This is a complete and utter disaster," she groaned into the padded gloves. She had had a lifetime and a half, now, to learn her way around a kitchen - but it seemed that she was still just as absolutely useless at cooking as ever.

"What are we going to eat, then?" Artie piped up as he eyed the rest of the half-prepared meal that Rose was still artlessly attempting to cobble together.

"There's no way I'm eating a bite of that turkey," Angie added snidely. "Probably get _bird flu_ or something."

"That's not how bird flu works, Angie," Artie muttered with a roll of his eyes. His older sister opened her mouth to begin to argue the point, but Rose tossed off her oven mitts and shooed them both from the kitchen before they could really get into dissecting the finer points of avian-related illnesses.

As soon as she was alone once more, she immediately grabbed the super cell phone that the Doctor had left her with and dialed the one number that he had pre-programmed into it.

"Hello, the TARDIS!" his familiar voice greeted her brightly after a total of six terribly extended rings.

"Emergency. Looks like I'll be needing my boyfriend after all," Rose replied frantically as she glanced at the mess of food around her.

"Well, which is it this time? Landscaping or nannying?" the Doctor asked pointedly.

"What?" Rose demanded, furrowing her brows at the overdone vegetables before her in confusion.

"Is it a landscaping emergency or a nannying emergency?" the Doctor clarified with a small, annoyed huff. "Which boyfriend am I supposed to be this time?"

"Neither," Rose growled as she stabbed a spoon into the lumpy mashed potatoes sitting in a bowl on the counter near her. "No landscaping, no nannying. What I _really_ need is a terribly handsome, time traveling boyfriend who can cook a whole roast turkey in about ... oh, let's say one hour."

"Good luck finding one of those," the Doctor muttered ruefully.

"I guess I'll just have to make do with you, then," Rose snapped pointedly. "Please, Doctor. I need you," she added a bit more desperately.

"I'll have you know that I am actually _very_ busy at the moment!" he replied, his voice suddenly coming out a bit more frantic than it had been just a minute ago. "There's lots to do - I'm investigating this strange signal, and there are these enemy ships, and ..."

"But Doctor, it's Christmas!" Rose cut him off insistently.

"Yes, and I'm currently trying to avoid being shot out of the sky by a rogue cyberman fleet!" the Doctor replied just as insistently.

"Well, can't we do both?" Rose begged as she opened the oven once more to look at the pale, raw fowl inside.

There was suddenly a loud explosion from the Doctor's end of the call, but then he grunted in response, "Yeah, why not?" before the line was abruptly cut off and Rose was left all alone once more with her Christmas dinner lying in shambles around her.

\--------------------

Rose was elated to hear the familiar sound of the TARDIS landing outside only a few minutes later, but she was decidedly _less_ pleased when she burst through the old ship's doors to find her bondmate waiting for her excitedly with not a stitch on him.

She let out a startled shout despite herself the Doctor threw his hands into the air without even a hint of shame and exclaimed, "Rose! There you are!"

Rose let out another small yelp of surprise as he moved forward as if to embrace her before she fell into a fit of helpless giggles, making sure to hold her hand up to him in order to keep him from coming within reach of her. "Doctor! What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, barely able to speak through the uncontrollable laughter that was bubbling up from within her.

"What's the matter? What's wrong?" he asked, his brow furrowing in confusion as he let his arms fall dejectedly back to his sides.

"Doctor, where are your _clothes_?" Rose insisted breathlessly as she reached up to wipe tears of laughter from her eyes.

"Took them off," the Doctor replied with an unaffected shrug. Then, winking at her flirtatiously he added, "I wondered if you'd notice."

"Bit hard not to," Rose replied, propping her hands on her hips as she shook her head at him with a long-suffering sigh. "I called you to ask for your help with Christmas dinner. You can't come into the house like ... _that_."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her as though _she_ were the one who was being completely ridiculous, and then stepped forward to press a few buttons and flip a few switches near the monitor on the TARDIS console. In a flash of gold, Rose blinked and suddenly the Doctor was in his old jacket and bowtie once more.

"Better?" he asked, throwing his arms out once again as he impatiently awaited her approval.

"What did you just do?" Rose asked suspiciously, stepping closer but still not running into his arms the way that he clearly wanted her to.

"Hologram clothes," the Doctor replied loftily, "projected directly onto your visual cortex."

"No, no, no, that is _not_ what I meant," Rose chided him. "Doctor, this is _Christmas dinner_. Angie and Artie are home - they're in the house _right now_. You can't come in unless you put _real_ clothes on!"

The Doctor sighed loudly and rolled his eyes once more as he finally took the initiative to bridge the last few steps of space between them, wrapped his hands around the back of Rose's neck, and pressed a long, hard kiss to her lips.

She hummed in amusement against his mouth and tried very hard to fight back the giddy smile that she could feel stretching across her features, but she knew that she was failing to keep her enjoyment hidden as the Doctor's thoughts quietly brushed up against her own and he murmured directly into her mind, _Only because you asked so nicely ..._

Rose reached up to grab the lapels of his jacket and draw him in closer, but she discovered that hologram clothes were just as deceiving as they sounded, and her fingertips brushed against nothing more than cool, Time Lord skin instead. "Alright, this is really weird," she declared as she finally stepped back and forced her lips away from his. "Real clothes. Now. Then you can help me with the turkey."

"Ah, you're no fun," the Doctor grumbled under his breath as he hit another button on the console and his clothes instantly blinked out of sight once more.

"Oh, I'll show you just how _fun_ I can be," Rose replied teasingly as she gave him a pointed once-over and tugged suggestively against his thoughts.

The Doctor's face immediately lit up as he eagerly returned her mental touch and smiled widely back at her.

"Doctor! It's Christmas!" she reminded him once more, pretending to be scandalized as she fought to hide her girlish blush from him.

He chuckled as he pressed a quick kiss to the crown of her head and then darted past her and headed deeper into the TARDIS towards wherever he had stashed his real clothes. Neither of them bothered to acknowledge out loud the silent promise that they made over their mental connection to continue where they had left off at another time. As with most things, they found that they were of a similar mind on the matter, and the anticipation had always been part of the excitement for both of them, anyway.

\--------------------

Thankfully, the Doctor seemed to have a solution for Rose's turkey problem. However, her dreams of an idyllic Christmas dinner were quickly dashed as the Doctor insisted that they track down the source of the mysterious signal that he had been tracking in her absence, and they soon ended up onboard what he referred to as "the Papal Mainframe".

"Swallow this," the Doctor commanded, turning to place a small, pink tablet into Rose's palm as he piloted the TARDIS forward towards the large, glowing ship that seemed to be guarding the mysterious planet and the source of the signal below.

"What is it?" Rose asked, narrowing her eyes on him suspiciously. She hadn't liked the way that the Doctor so casually addressed the Mother Superious and his seeming familiarity with the futuristic, religious sect was making her nervous.

"Your hologram projector," he replied easily, making a general sweeping motion towards her with his hands, "you can't go to church with your clothes on."

"_That's_ why you were naked, earlier?" Rose asked in frustration.

"Just trying to get to the church on time," the Doctor replied blithely as the TARDIS set down and he immediately reached for his bowtie, his nimble fingers quickly unraveling it and tossing it to the ground between his feet.

"But ... what's the point of being naked if we make it _look_ like we're wearing clothes?" Rose insisted, still trying to wrap her mind around the entire situation as she clutched the small pink tablet in her hand.

"Well, you know religions and their rules," the Doctor replied breezily, letting his jacket fall from his shoulders next and then chucking it unceremoniously to the floor alongside his bowtie. "Come on, then. Don't want to be late," he added, gesturing to Rose once more as he unclipped the chain on his waistcoat and then removed the gold watch that he always wore on his left wrist.

Rose grumbled as she unwillingly placed the small tablet on her tongue and then forced herself to swallow. She glared at the Doctor from across the console as she slowly toed off her shoes, watching as he did the same with much more enthusiasm.

The holograms kicked in about half-way through their rushed disrobing, but it did nothing to ease Rose's intense discomfort. "I don't feel like I'm wearing anything," she hissed as she tugged at the hem of the new yellow jumper which she knew, in reality, wasn't there.

"I know - relaxing, isn't it?" the Doctor replied with a wide, easy smile as he straightened a bowtie that also wasn't real. However, his smile quickly faded into a petulant scowl as he narrowed his eyes at her and added, "Oi, it's _all_ clothes. You can't go to church in your knickers."

Rose stared in open-mouthed shock as she glanced from the Doctor's annoyed expression to her seemingly-clothed body and back again. "What ...? How ...?" she demanded awkwardly.

"You didn't think a _hologram_ was going to work on _me_, did you?" the Doctor asked haughtily, rolling his eyes as he slipped around the console to stand in front of her with his arms crossed pridefully against his chest. "Perception-altering devices like that only work on less evolved species," he reminded her pointedly.

Rose's gaping mouth immediately snapped shut as she tightened her jaw and glared up at the Doctor's glinting, mischievous eyes. "Yeah, keep it up, why don't you?" she hissed venomously as she moved to unhook the bra that she had left on in an attempt to feel just a _little_ less exposed. "I'll show you where you can shove your Time Lord arrogance. It's not winning you any favors, you know. I'm not going to forget this!"

He arched a thoughtful brow in her direction as Rose bent to step out of her knickers as well and muttered lowly under his breath, "Yeah, neither will I."

Rose slapped him hard on the arm and glowered in his direction as she moved to pull her fake skirt as far down as she could get it to go in an attempt to cover her modesty. The Doctor hid his amused smile in her hair as he leaned forward to press another quick kiss to her forehead, but Rose could feel his pleased smugness over their bond and she filled his thoughts with nervous irritation in return.

However, if she thought that standing in front of the Doctor on the TARDIS in her hologram clothes had been awkward, that was nothing compared to the walk down the long, dark aisle that they had to make in order to reach the Mother Superious, who was waiting for them with a cool, imperious air at the top of a small set of stairs.

"Hey, babes," she greeted them casually after they had been formally announced and the Doctor had made another long, sweeping bow at her feet.

Rose curled up her nose in distaste as she watched the Doctor effortlessly flirt his way into the woman's (who he fondly referred to as _Tash_) good graces. The fact that Rose knew that they were standing at the center of the church's attention and wearing _absolutely nothing_ made her even more irritated than normal with her bondmate's casual banter.

"Tash," the Doctor announced grandly as he swept his arms out in Rose's direction, "this is my ..." His words trailed off into awkward silence and his eyes grew large as the breathless seconds ticked by and he simply stared at Rose and struggled to find a word that encapsulated all that she was.

"Clara," Rose finally finished for him, smiling up at Tasha as kindly as she could as she silently filled the Doctor's mind with all of the curse words that she knew that she shouldn't speak out loud in a church. "I'm his Clara. Clara Oswald."

The Mother Superious flashed her an awkward, welcoming smile, before turning to give a dismissive nod to the line of soldiers flanking her. "We'll go to my chapel," Tasha commanded without hesitation, motioning for Rose and the Doctor to follow her deeper into the ship.

_I'm so going to make you pay for this,_ Rose reminded her bondmate silently as she pulled at the hem of her hologram jumper once more and crossed her arms uncomfortably against her chest.

_Will that be with or without the hologram projections?_ the Doctor replied teasingly. Rose slapped him again and firmly shoved him out of her mind in response, not wanting him to catch on to the way that his flirtatious words affected her when she was trying very hard to be cross with him.


	30. Chapter Thirty

Tasha was able to teleport them down to the mysterious planet below, just as the Doctor had been hoping that she would, but Rose hadn't been prepared for the sudden shock that came from being in a perfectly nice future-church space-chapel one moment to a dark, frozen tundra with nothing but a flimsy hologram between her bare skin and the snow the next.

The Doctor reached for her immediately as Rose gasped and the dry, cold air instantly clawed at her throat. "_Cold_," she groaned as she hugged her arms tight to her chest and began to violently shiver. She allowed herself to be pulled towards the Doctor's tall, comforting frame as she repeated shakily, "Very cold!"

"There's a heat loss filter in your hologram shell," the Doctor explained as he rubbed his hands roughly up and down her arms in an attempt to spark warmth through friction. "It'll kick in, just give it a moment."

He wrapped his arms around her in a quick, tight hug and pressed a hard kiss into her hair before he spun her around so that he could keep her back to his front and they could survey their new surroundings without having to let go of one another. The sensation was still quite odd when there weren't any actual clothes to separate them, but the heat loss filters were finally beginning to kick in, and Rose decided to focus on breathing normally through the bitter cold air rather than allowing herself to become distracted by the very _naked_ Time Lord at her back.

The Doctor, however, didn't seem to be frazzled in the least, and as soon as he was certain that Rose wasn't going to freeze to death, he was stepping away from her once more, eager to go and investigate the town where the mysterious signal was coming from. Rose moved to follow him, but she froze in place as her attention caught on a pale stone hand reaching up through the snow below.

"Doctor ...?" she called curiously, but she didn't get any other words out before she blinked against the snow in her eyes and suddenly there was an entire arm reaching up through the ground and grasping very tightly around her ankle.

"Clara!" the Doctor shouted in concern as he immediately darted forward and grabbed for her once more, staring over her shoulder in horror at the stone arm that seemed to be capable of movement. She hated that he still had to use her fake name whenever they were outside of the confines of the TARDIS, but having his thoughts in her head whispering her true name helped calm her as Rose stumbled unevenly in an attempt to balance on her one free foot.

"Clara, keep looking at it! Don't look away! Don't even blink!" the Doctor muttered fearfully as he let his arms slide securely around her middle, holding her close to him as though he were afraid that she might slip away at any second. She could feel the quick, panicked rhythm of his hearts against her back and Rose's mind reached out on instinct in an attempt to soothe his racing thoughts. Clearly, he had had run-ins with these statues before, and whatever had happened sill affected him greatly.

"Okay, pull hard," he instructed gently, bracing his own weight more securely between his two feet in an attempt to help her. "One ... two ... three!"

They both yelled as they pulled as hard as they could against the stone's tight grip. As soon as Rose's ankle slipped free, they both tumbled backwards, rolling over one another clumsily as they slid down a steep, snowy bank.

Rose was now naked, cold, _and_ wet, and - they soon discovered - not alone, as stone angels began to emerge from the snow all around them, sneaking in at impossible speeds any time either of them blinked or a snow drift briefly blinded their sight.

"Okay, I just need to bring the TARDIS down ..." the Doctor muttered under his breath as they arranged themselves back-to-back in an attempt to keep their eyes on the statues that only seemed to be able to move when you weren't looking at them.

"But you can't fly it remotely!" Rose reminded him in frustration as she blinked hard once and attempted to count the advancing angels through the misty haze.

"No, but it can home in on the key," the Doctor replied simply.

"But Tasha took your key!" Rose snapped as the angels drew impossibly closer and closer ...

"She took one of them," the Doctor agreed, his voice confident as he spun around and the familiar sound of the TARDIS immediately began to fill Rose's ears.

She whipped her head around in confusion, only to let out a startled scream as she gazed wide-eyed at the Doctor's bald, round head. She was frozen in shock as the old time ship slowly materialized around them, simply staring up at him in horror. Rose began to wonder if maybe one of the angels had gotten her after all and this was just some sort of weird, after-death dream.

"Doctor ..." she breathed as he flashed her a cocky smile and placed the wig that he had been wearing on his empty Cyberman's head, "what ave you _done_?"

"Old key in the quiff routine. Classic!" he crowed excitedly as he moved forward to begin setting the TARDIS to scan for the source of the mysterious message that they had been chasing all day.

"You ... _shaved your head_ ..." Rose stated slowly, her hands still hovering around her face as though that would help her to contain her openly-horrified expression.

"Yep," the Doctor replied, completely unashamed and unrepentant as he fiddled with the console controls. "Clever plan to get us past the shield."

Rose opened her mouth to ask _why_, but then thought better of it as she simply sighed and dropped her head wearily into her hands in defeat. "I can't believe this ... You know, you live in a _space and time_ machine. There are lots of other things you could do whenever you get bored!"

"Oi! I seem to remember hearing a lot of complaints about all of the hair not too long ago," the Doctor replied irritatedly as he swept a self-conscious hand over the smooth skin of his head.

Rose opened her mouth to argue, but after a moment's hesitation, she eventually let her lips fall shut and only shook her head in silent defeat once again. She had been with the Doctor through enough decades, now, to recognize when he was simply trying to wind her up.

"Right, well, put it back on. Put it _all_ back on - clothes, too," Rose demanded, grabbing the wig off of the Cyberman head and tossing it towards the Doctor, the odd feel of it between her fingers making her cringe in distaste.

"You really are no fun at all ..." the Doctor groaned under his breath as he caught the fake hair and scowled dejectedly down at the TARDIS controls.

Rose rolled her eyes dramatically and stepped forward, pushing herself to the tips of her toes so that she could wrap her hands around the Doctor's bare neck and bring him in for a hard, frustrated kiss. When she stepped away from him again she leveled her best no-nonsense look on him as she stated, "Just so we're clear - naked romps through the snow while being chased by killer statues is _not_ my idea of fun."

"Well, _I_ had fun," the Doctor insisted, smiling cheekily down at her as he let his arms snake around her waist and pulled her eagerly closer to him.

Rose sighed heavily one last time as she looked up at the Doctor's bald head with a look of utter remorse. "How long is it going to take to grow back?" she asked sadly.

"Oh, not to worry - I've got something for that," he replied with a simple, dismissive shrug.

"Good," Rose declared resolutely. "Your ears are like rocket fins."

The insult did nothing to dampen the Doctor's mood as he smiled widely down at her and replied, "I know!"

\--------------------

The town that they landed in ended up being a rural, quaint little place that seemed to be decorated for the old Earth holiday and completely unaware of the dangerous, mysterious signal that it housed. However, Rose found that she was much more willing and eager to explore the strange new place after they had ditched their hologram projections in favor of real clothes once more. In fact, it was almost like a normal holiday outing in a strange, outer space sort of way.

"Oh, it's good to be wearing _clothes_ again," Rose announced happily as she closed the TARDIS doors behind her and skipped forward to the Doctor's side. "That's _so_ much better, don't you think?"

The Doctor turned his nose up slightly as she slipped her arm through his and he cast a dejected look down at her old jacket. "Liked it better before," he grumbled honestly.

Rose rolled her eyes as she tugged on his arm and urged him further into the town, but she sent him a quick, amused wave of fondness over their bond as she did so.

It didn't take them long before they ran into another couple walking down the street, which was odd considering the fact that no one else seemed to be out. In fact, the whole town was eerily dark and silent, despite the fact that the Doctor had stated that it was two-o'-clock in the afternoon.

"Hello, there!" the Doctor called out to the pair excitedly, instantly lengthening his stride so that he could intercept the two strangers. "Hello, good to meet you. Nice snow."

The man and woman smiled widely and greeted them warmly, instantly welcoming them into their small, strange town, which they dubbed "Christmas".

The Doctor opened his mouth to rattle off his carefully-thought-out cover story, but all that came out was, "I'm the Doctor, I'm a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, I stole a time machine and ran away and I've been _flouting_ the principle law of my own people ever since."

He actually had to slap a hand over his own mouth to stop the words that seemed to be flowing from his lips outside of both his will and control. Rose furrowed her brow at him in confusion as she looked from the Doctor's wide, surprised eyes, to the smiling, unaffected couple before them, and back again.

"That wasn't quite what I was meant to say ..." the Doctor muttered through his fingers as he eyed the chuckling couple suspiciously.

Rose opened her mouth next in an attempt to rectify the situation, but she quickly discovered that she seemed to be experiencing the same difficulties as the Doctor as she began to rant absently, "My name is Rose, I'm a human from Earth, and I used to be a shopgirl until I ran off with a man from space and got trapped in a parallel world, until I somehow broke up into atoms and came back to this universe as a twenty-four-year-old nanny."

Rose gasped as she also raised her hand to her mouth and mirrored the Doctor's expression of horrified alarm as she fought back the well of words that seemed to be springing up and overflowing from within her.

"I think, perhaps, you should stop talking until you get used to it," the strange woman before them suggested with a small, amused smile. "What did you say your name was?"

Rose winced as she attempted to reply with her fake name, but all that came out was, "Over a hundred years old and still chasing my teenage crush ..."

"I'm wearing a wig!" the Doctor interrupted her before both of them could slap their hands over their mouths once more in an attempt to silence the uncontrollable words.

"Ah! Yes, I see!" the Doctor continued after a moment, lowering his hand as eager realization suddenly dawned over his features. "It's a truth field! Oh, that is so quaint. I haven't seen a truth field in _years_!" He grinned at them all proudly as he repeated matter-of-factly, "I'm wearing a wig."

"No one can lie in this town," the strange man informed them with a simple shrug of his shoulders, "especially this close to the tower."

"Doesn't that make life a bit difficult?" the Doctor asked, his brow furrowing as he glanced up at the said tower with a look of wary apprehension.

"Not at all!" the woman replied at the same time that her partner answered eagerly, "Yes!"

The Doctor chuckled quietly as he watched the couple continue on their way down the winding, snow-covered street. "This one is going to be tricky ..." he murmured under his breath as he turned back to gaze at the tower before them, reaching instinctively for Rose's hand before he attempted to venture forth.

"I think I should get one of those truth fields permanently installed in the TARDIS," Rose muttered thoughtfully, flashing the Doctor a teasing smile as she took his hand and allowed him to lead her forward.

"'Over a hundred years old'?" he repeated as an afterthought, flashing Rose a considering look out of the corner of his eye.

"Oi, don't get cheeky with me, Mister-Twelve-Hundred-and-Something," Rose replied sarcastically.

"No, no, I was just going to say that you're looking good on it," he replied, squeezing her fingers in his as he held the door of the tower open for her and ushered her inside before him.

"Well, that's what being married to an ageless alien will do to you," Rose reminded him, flashing the Doctor a pointed look as they began searching for stairs or some other way of getting to the upper levels of the bell tower. "Got to keep up with the young faces you keep changing into."

The Doctor chuckled under his breath once more as his gaze instantly landed on a winding set of stairs towards the back of the room and he wasted no time in pulling her eagerly towards them. "Hey, who knows?" he replied quietly. "Maybe the next time around I'll surprise you and go for something completely different."

Rose laughed as she ran to keep up with his long-legged stride and they quickly ascended the stairs in pursuit of the mysterious signal that they could hear buzzing throughout the entire building in three, measured sonic bursts. She knew that neither of them were particularly concerned with what face he might end up with further on down the road, but Rose couldn't help but hope that it would be a long time off yet before the Doctor regenerated again. More than anything else, she hated how every change felt like a goodbye, and she found that she wasn't exactly eager to let go of the man who she had so recently been reunited with.

Rose tightened her hold on the Doctor's hand and silently willed him to be careful as they delved deeper into the tower and the signal grew steadily louder around them. He easily brushed off her concern with a quick mental touch that didn't go very far in reassuring her.

Rose wanted very much to believe in his confident, cavalier attitude, but there was an odd, silent atmosphere surrounding the sleepy town of Christmas that couldn't be ignored no matter how hard she tried, and Rose couldn't quite shake the odd feeling that this signal that they were searching for was going to turn out to be far more than what the Doctor had accounted for.


	31. Chapter Thirty-One

Rose felt fear and adrenaline spike through her veins as she and the Doctor faced off against the glowing, gold crack that stretched upwards like a sinister, crooked smile along the wall before them. She wasn't quite sure if the terror that she felt in that moment was coming from her or her bondmate, but it didn't really matter as they both silently held their breaths and examined the strange anomaly.

"Doctor ... what is that?" Rose asked warily as she narrowed her eyes at the gleaming yellow light that ominously lit up the room around them.

Rose could feel the way that his hearts sunk in his chest as a wave of bitter defeat swept through the Doctor's thoughts and instantly flooded her mind. "I knew," he muttered quietly in response. "I always knew it wasn't over." He dropped her hand, then, so that he could shrug off his jacket as he bent down to get a closer look at the crack in the wall.

"It's a split in the skin of reality," he explained as he slowly let his fingers trail over the edge of the jagged line. "It's a structural weakness in the whole universe. Someone's trying to get through it from outside our universe, from somewhere else."

"'Somewhere else'?" Rose repeated dubiously, but the Doctor ignored her as he turned and stalked towards the empty cyberman head that he had brought along with them onto the planet's surface.

"You said 'Gallfirey', why did you say 'Gallifrey'?" the Doctor demanded roughly as he grabbed the robotic helmet and glared deep into its black, unseeing eyes. The name still sent a shock of fear and heartache through them both as the Doctor repeated the words that they cyberman had announced earlier in the day, before they had ever set foot on the snow-filled, wintery planet.

"Analysis of message composition indicates Gallifreyan origin, according to TARDIS databanks," the robot replied matter-of-factly.

The Doctor gritted his teeth together in silence for a moment before he shoved one of his hands into one of his trouser pockets and pulled out a flat, round circle. "Seal of the High Council of Gallifrey," he explained quickly. "Nicked it off the Master in the Death Zone." He slapped the seal onto the cyberman's forehead without any further explanation and tightened his grip on the helmet as he commanded, "There is an algorithm imprinted in the atomic structure - use it to decode the message."

"Message decoding," the robot replied in its flat monotone. "Message analysis proceeding. Information available. The message is being projected through all of time and space on a repeating cycle."

The Doctor's face went pale and Rose felt her fingers clenching into fists at her sides as their combined terror swept through their bond once more and made her heart skip a beat in foreboding.

"Warning: translation will be available to all lifeforms in range," the cyberman continued hollowly. "Translation follows: Doctor who?"

The two words seemed to fill the small room of the tower and echo ominously around them as the robotic voice of the cyberman twisted and distorted, continuing to repeat the question on an endless, repetitive cycle.

"A question only I can answer ..." the Doctor muttered quietly as he hung his head in utter defeat and shuffled back towards the glowing crack in the wall. "A truth field to make sure I'm not lying. If I give my name, they'll know they've found the right place and that it's safe to come through." He sighed wearily as he leaned one shoulder against the wall and began fidgeting nervously with his hands as his gaze stared hard at nothing and his mind began to run through the many terrible possibilities that lay before them.

"Doctor ..." Rose murmured quietly as she stepped close and laid her hands gently over his twitching fingers in an attempt to calm him. "Isn't that a good thing? Don't you _want_ Gallifrey to come back?"

The Doctor squeezed his eyes shut tight as he let his arms drop to her waist and pulled her forward to rest his forehead against hers, but she could sense that her solid presence in his arms was doing nothing to ease the sharp, panicked anxiety that was coursing through his mind.

_This is dangerous, Rose,_ he reminded her silently over their bond. _More dangerous than you can possibly imagine._ "Any chance I could convince you to go back to the TARDIS where it's safe?" he added out loud, his voice a mere whisper between them as his mind reached for hers and silently begged for her to allow him this one, last comfort of knowing that she was alive and secure while he faced off against this looming, unknowable danger.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," Rose sighed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer, "but there's no way I'm leaving you now."

Rose could sense that the Doctor's thoughts were still racing ahead of them both, searching for a different solution or a way to trick her into following his wishes, but they both knew how he had tried and failed at that before, and with a direct line to her thoughts and a truth field hovering all around them, there was no way that he could lie to her now.

Rose knew that she should probably be more upset that he was trying so hard to get rid of her, but she could feel the panicked urgency of his thoughts and she would have been lying if she had tried to say that her own restless anxiety wasn't making her itch to get away from this place as fast as possible. However, they both knew that she had made her choice long ago, and there was no way that she could leave him now, no matter what either of them might have wished.

"Doctor!" a familiar female voice called out suddenly, her voice booming through the entire town and echoing through the dark chambers of the tower around them. "Doctor, face me now!"

The Doctor stepped back and flashed Rose a tight-lipped, pained smile as he begrudgingly accepted their shared fate. "To work, then?" he asked, all of his usual eagerness completely gone from his tone as he fought to meet her eyes.

Rose placed her hand firmly in his, giving his fingers a tight squeeze as she nodded resolutely and stated, "Together."

\--------------------

"Trenzalore."

The simple name seemed to ring out across the entirety of the planet as the hologram of Tasha's face stared down at them intently from the night sky above. The Doctor had asked her for the name of the planet, and the answer had instantly turned Rose's blood to ice as the declaration hung ominously in the air around them. 

"If you speak your name, the Time Lords will return," the Mother Superious continued gravely.

"If they return, they will come in _peace_!" the Doctor protested desperately, his grip on Rose's hand turning painful as he faced down the giant projection in an attempt to defend his entire race.

"It doesn't matter," Tasha insisted resolutely. "They will be met with a war that will never end. The Time War will begin anew. You know that, Doctor."

"They're asking for my _help_!" The Doctor cried in reply, his free hand cutting through the air in anger as he continued to argue with her. For the first time since Rose had paired her mind with his, she could feel what the daleks referred to as the "Oncoming Storm" beginning to rage within him. The cold, harsh reality of it made her shiver.

"And if you give it, _war_ will be the consequence," Tasha snarled darkly, completely heedless to the Doctor's growing frustration. "I will _not_ let that happen, at _any_ cost. Speak your name, and this world will _burn_."

"No," the Doctor replied, his own conviction just as dangerous as hers. "This world is _protected_."

He dropped Rose's hand just long enough to grab his sonic and point it at the large brass bell that hung from the top of the tower behind them. As soon as it began to swing and its loud call began to vibrate through the cool, dark air of Trenzalore, he grabbed Rose's hand again and dragged her quickly back down the tower stairs they way that they had come.

"So what now?" Rose asked breathlessly as she struggled to keep up with him. "Doctor, what are you going to do now?"

"Weren't you listening?" the Doctor asked, tossing her a smile over his shoulder that didn't quite match the dark look haunting the rest of his expression. "_Now_ we protect them - the whole planet, all of them. Christmas has a new sheriff."

\--------------------

Rose tried very hard to stay hopeful after that, but the days turned into weeks, and when the weeks began to multiply, she quickly began to lose track of just how long she and the Doctor had been in the small, sleepy town of Christmas. The nights seemed to go on for ages with only short glimpses of daylight in between to mark the time by.

And always there were the aliens - most of them small attack forces sent down from the ships above and meant to infiltrated and wipe out the townsfolk in an attempt to get to the Doctor. However, every plan was thwarted in one way or another, and soon it just became something that Rose and the Doctor _did_ \- a strange, unconventional way for them both to pass the time. They even made a game of it, sometimes - who could stop the cybermen quicker? Who could dodge the most sontaran lasers? Who could shoot down more dalek drones out of the sky?

The Doctor never once stopped trying to convince Rose to leave, though. Every waking hour that they were together, he was quietly pricking the back of her mind and reminding her that the TARDIS was parked in the center of town and could be used to escape at any time that she chose. Every time, Rose's answer was exactly the same - "Not unless you come with me, Doctor."

And so they both remained - because the Doctor could not choose between the innocent town of Christmas and his own people, and Rose could not leave the Doctor to make the decision on his own.

Without having to discuss it between themselves, the few short minutes of sunlight that the planet received every day quickly became another part of their strange new routine as well. Every morning, as long as there wasn't some danger attempting to sneak its way through the town's border, Rose and the Doctor would meet at the top of the bell tower and watch the sun rise and set together.

"After all these years, I've finally found somewhere that needs me to stick around," the Doctor mused quietly one morning as they sat close to one another at the top of the tower, a single, wool blanket wrapped tight around them both to keep out the planet's wintery chill.

"You're not serious, are you?" Rose asked, scrunching up her nose at him as she handed the Doctor the large bag of marshmallows that he had brought up with them. When she received nothing more than a sad, blank stare in reply, she rolled her eyes and grabbed the Doctor's arm, hugging it tightly between her own as she pulled him closer to her. "People have always needed you to stick around, Doctor. It was _you_ who never wanted to give them the chance."

Rose pressed a kiss to his cheek and silently filled his thoughts with her quiet sympathy. She knew why the Doctor always felt as though he had to run - he was afraid of consequences, afraid of goodbyes, afraid of attachments that he knew would always have to break at some point or another. She supposed that his fears were well-founded in some respects, but she needed him to know that he was loved and needed by more people in this universe than he would ever possibly be able to understand.

"Everyone gets stuck somewhere eventually, you know," she reminded him quietly, "even you."

"Suppose so," the Doctor murmured noncommittally. He plucked a large marshmallow form the plastic bag in his lap and flashed her a small smile out of the corner of his eye as he added, "Stuck with you, that's not so bad."

Rose recognized the quiet declaration from their previous life together, and she rewarded him with a bright, pleased smile as dawn began to glow along the horizon before them.

"Sure I can't convince you to leave?" he asked quietly, immediately diminishing the conviction of his words as he pressed a kiss to Rose's temple and wrapped one arm around her waist to bring her in closer. She turned to rest her head affectionately on his shoulder in response as she gazed out at the pale blue and yellow sky that they had come to call home.

"Never gonna happen," she stated firmly. "Are you ever going to stop asking me that?"

"Nope," the Doctor replied with a soft sigh, his fingers trailing absently along the line of her hip. "Everything ends, Rose. I'm determined not to see yours."

She supposed that there was the one good thing about living in the town of Christmas, at least - with the truth field keeping them all from lying, they had eliminated the need for the use of Rose's second name whenever she and the Doctor were out in public. He hadn't called her "Clara" once since they had first arrived, and no one on Trenzalore seemed to be able to mark the difference.

"Not everything," Rose reminded him quietly, "not _you_."

"Yes," the Doctor insisted, his grip on her tightening, as though he needed to make sure that she was still real and sitting there with him. "Yes, even me. I can only change twelve times. Thirteen versions of me - thirteen silly Doctors."

"What are you trying to say?" Rose asked, turning her head on his shoulder so that she could meet his sad, gloomy expression. She knew the old Time Lord rule as well as he did - she had questioned her husband about it extensively in their parallel world in an attempt to better understand him and his people. However, she had always just assumed that the Doctor would find some way to circumvent that rule, just as he did with so many others. She had never known that the number of regenerations concerned him at all. 

"You're, what, number twelve, including the Doctor I met from the Time War?" she continued hesitantly. "So what are you worried about?"

"Are you forgetting about the Metacrisis?" the Doctor asked pointedly. "I kept the same face, but it was still a regeneration. That means I can't ever do it again. This is where I end up - this face, this version of me. We saw this planet in the future, remember? All those graves ... one of them mine."

"Yes, but I remember _Gallifrey_, as well," Rose insisted stubbornly. "There were _thirteen_ TARDISes there, Doctor, I _counted_ them."

"That doesn't prove anything," he grumbled with a wary shake of his head. "That could have been anyone, we never saw his face. There's no way of knowing if that was me."

Rose opened her mouth to argue, but her words were cut off as a giant hologram of a familiar face suddenly filled the skies over Trenzalore.

"Doctor!" Tasha called out, her gaze appearing frantic as she quickly scanned the landscape and eventually narrowed her eyes on Rose and the Doctor. "The Church of the Silence requests parlay. Your rights and safety are sanctified."

"I'll be right up!" the Doctor called back warily as he moved to stand, wrapping their shared blanket tighter around Rose's shoulders.

"'Parlay'?" Rose repeated dubiously as she hugged the blanket tighter around herself and moved to follow him. "What's that all about? How long have we been down here, with no word from her or her lackeys, and now, all of a sudden, they want to talk?"

"Yes, it _is_ a bit suspicious, isn't it?" the Doctor replied, narrowing his eyes on the dark, starry sky above them as the sun finished its decent back into the horizon. "Is it dangerous enough that I could convince you to stay behind?" he added, flashing Rose a bright, hopeful look.

"Not on your life," Rose replied instantly. "This one, _or_ the next," she added, giving the Doctor a weighty, pointed look. He ignored her stubborn insinuation and simply sighed in defeat as he led her back down the stairs towards where the TARDIS was parked. They both silently agreed over their bond to save _that_ particular argument for another day.


	32. Chapter Thirty-Two

The request for parlay ended up being a trap, just as they both had expected it would be, but neither of them had quite been prepared for the great eyestalk that suddenly protruded from Tasha's forehead as the Papal Mainframe was suddenly overrun by daleks.

When the Doctor and Rose finally darted back into the safety of the TARDIS, they knew that their strange routine of life down in the town of Christmas had abruptly come to an end. The forcefield around the planet of Trenzalore was weakening, and soon every single one of the Doctor's enemies were going to be attempting to infiltrate and attack.

"It's done," the Doctor murmured as he stared hard at the readouts on the console screen before him.

"What is?" Rose asked hesitantly, hoping beyond home that he would somehow manage to come up with some sort of genius solution that would save the day against all odds and get them both back home safe in time for the holidays.

"Your turkey," the Doctor replied lightly, flashing her a small, amused smile as he added, "Either that or it's woken up."

Rose laughed breathlessly as the warm, inviting smell suddenly filled her senses. "That's one Christmas saved, then," she muttered as she moved closer to the Doctor and glanced over his shoulder to see that the TARDIS monitor was filled with images of the town that they had come to inhabit recently. "What are we going to do about this one?" she asked pointedly.

"I've got an idea about that," the Doctor replied easily. "But you should really go and take that turkey out of the vortex oven. Don't want it to start growing feathers."

Rose chuckled in amusement as she reached up to place a kiss against the Doctor's cheek, but she paused in thought for a moment as she pulled away and swept another assessing gaze over him. He was acting oddly withdrawn, his presence in her mind barely perceptible, as though he were attempting to shutter her away from whatever it was that he was thinking. When he caught her suspicious gaze, however, the Doctor immediately smiled and filled her head once more with thoughts of heartfelt fondness.

_Don't go anywhere,_ she warned him over their bond as she turned on her heel to head towards the are underneath the console.

_Wouldn't dream of it,_ he replied easily, filling her mind with an overwhelming sense of love and devotion that had Rose growing instantly suspicious again. Once she had retrieved her turkey and ascended the console room stairs once more, she immediately realized why. The main room of the ship was completely empty, and when she stepped outside in search of the Doctor, the TARDIS doors were closed and locked behind her before she even had the chance to recognize the familiar, suburban image of the Maitland house standing before her.

_Oh, no, you don't ..._ Rose growled stubbornly as she turned back towards the doors of the old blue police box, but the ship was already blinking back out of existence, leaving her stranded and completely alone on the cold, empty street. Rose gasped as she felt her telepathic bond with the Doctor disappear along with the ship, his presence in her mind fading into silence and leaving her feeling more abandoned than she had ever felt in her life.

"No ..." she breathed desperately as she stared at the empty space where the TARDIS had stood just moments before. "Come back." She couldn't believe that he was doing this - _again_. Hadn't he learned his lesson the last time he had tried to send her home against her wishes?

But this time, there was no Bad Wolf, no TARDIS, nothing - just Rose and her perfectly done Christmas turkey standing in the middle of an empty street with no way of getting back to the daft old Time Lord who she loved more than anything in any universe in creation. How was she possibly going to save his life this time?

\--------------------

"Smells amazing, Clara," George called into the kitchen encouragingly as Rose dumped the tray of roast turkey dejectedly onto the counter. The rest of the kitchen was still in complete disarray from her thwarted attempt at cooking earlier, and she glared down at the half-prepared food as angry tears began to blur her vision.

"There's still _no way_ I'm eating a bite of that thing," Angie insisted stubbornly as she popped her head through the doorway behind Rose and turned her nose up at the pan of perfectly-done turkey.

"Probably best," Rose admitted blandly. "It's been cooking in the time winds for a while, now. Who knows what that's done to it ..."

Angie's eyes immediately narrowed as she took another small step into the kitchen and peered closer at Rose's blank, teary-eyed expression. "You're being weird again ..." she mused hesitantly. "Is it ... something to do with the Doctor?"

"No," Rose replied with quiet determination. "Just been a long day. Don't worry, dinner will be ready soon." She turned to flash the young girl her brightest, most convincing smile and then quickly busied herself with the rest of the half-prepared meal lying about on the counters all around her.

Rose knew that she was stuck - truly, properly trapped this time, without any hope of getting back to the Doctor. She decided in that moment that if he and the Bad Wolf were both so determined to force her into this normal, human life, then she might as well start living it. It wasn't the Maitlands's fault, after all, that all of this had happened to her. But she was here, now, and she was going to make the best of Christmas - if not for herself, then certainly for Angie and Artie.

"Now," Rose muttered under her breath as she gazed down at the rest of the holiday meal, which stood in varying stages of completeness all around her, "where was I?"

\--------------------

"You sure we shouldn't wait for the Doctor?" George asked as Rose sat down the last tray of food on the small dining room table before him.

"Nah, he's rubbish at holidays," Rose replied, making her tone as bright and cheerful as possible in an attempt to cover up the gaping hole that she could feel in her chest at the Doctor's absence. "He's rubbish at normal dinners as well. Just ... all around rubbish with showing up, I suppose."

"And you're ... sure you're alright?" George insisted, eyeing Rose warily as she finally settled into her designated seat amongst their small family gathering.

"Great! Yeah, fine!" Rose lied cheerily, flashing each of the Maitlands a forced grin. "Well, go on, then, start eating! Don't want it to get cold!"

They all quietly obeyed, but the awkward silence that fell upon the room was deafening as they all fought and failed to avoid eye-contact with the empty seat at Rose's right side. However, the silent, tense atmosphere made it easy to hear the familiar grinding, whirring noise of engines that suddenly buzzed to life and echoed down the empty street outside.

"What's all that noise?" George asked curiously as he narrowed his eyes on the dining room window.

"Is that ...?" Artie asked quietly, his young voice filled with all of the hope and wonder that Rose could feel blossoming inside of her own chest.

"I thought you said he wasn't coming?" Angie insisted, flashing Rose an annoyed look that did nothing to dim the eager gleam in her dark eyes.

Rose was suddenly finding it very hard to breathe as her heart gave a great, lurching leap inside of her chest and threatened to run off after the noise without her. "I'll ... be right back!" she explained quickly, shooting to her feet and immediately abandoning the half-eaten meal that she had spent so much time working on. "You all just ... stay right here, and I will ... be right back!"

"Clara?" George called after her in concern as she bolted from the room without another word, bursting through the front door and darting across the lawn as fast as her legs would carry her.

The familiar blue box was parked in exactly the same place as it had been when it had dropped her off, though it looked as though it had been through a few trials along the way. The TARDIS's song in Rose's head was a languorous, weary lament.

"What is it this time, Old Girl?" Rose whispered as she immediately stepped up to the ship and laid her palms flat against the worn, blue wood. "Where is he?"

_Must hurry, must go back, must help ..._ the ship insisted desperately.

Rose didn't need to be told twice. She instantly threw open the ship's doors and darted towards the empty console before her. _Take me to him_, she demanded as she lifted the hand brake and allowed the sentient ship to input their destination as she did what she could to prepare them for departure.

_So lost, so alone, so sad ..._ the ship continued to hum morosely. _It has already begun._

_What's happened to him_? Rose asked, desperate for answers as the TARDIS began to whir to life around her.

_Death, dying, so old, so tired - it's time, at last, to sleep._

"Don't talk like that," Rose insisted stubbornly, reaching up to lay a consoling hand against the ship's time rotor, as though that would erase the pained melody of loss echoing in her head. "We'll rescue him, just like we always do. You'll see."

_The clock is chiming. It's almost midnight,_ the TARDIS stated resolutely. _It has already begun, my flower. He will rest as all men must._

Rose gritted her teeth in bitter frustration as she held tight to the ship's console and waited for the jolting movements to cease. She knew that the TARDIS existed throughout all of space and time and could see all that is and was and ever could be, but she refused - absolutely _refused_ \- to let time get away with this one.

Rose _would_ save the Doctor - it was what she did. She would rescue him even if it meant rescuing him from himself, and she wouldn't ever stop running until she knew that he was safe again. She didn't care what anyone else had to say about the matter - the Doctor would _never_ die, not as long as _she_ had anything to say about it.

\--------------------

Rose could see that Trenzalore was in ruin as soon as she landed and stepped out onto the snowy landscape once more. The air was thick with smoke, making it difficult to see the details of the familiar town of Christmas. There were no more lights or decorations lining the streets and casting a warm, cheery glow on the cold winter snow - there was only fire and the sound of desperate screams filling the air.

However, as Rose gazed around at the eerie scene, she couldn't seem to stop the eager smile that lit up her features as her telepathic bond suddenly bloomed back to life within her mind. The Doctor was still alive, and he was _here_ \- somewhere close.

_Rose?_ he called out to her in disbelief as soon as they had been firmly reconnected once more.

_I'm coming for you_, she replied quickly, her mind leaving no room for any sort of argument as she instantly locked onto the Doctor's presence in the bell tower and began racing towards it, her heart pounding erratically in her chest the entire time.

_Thought you would have given up on me by now_, the Doctor's thoughts grumbled wearily as Rose dodged the crowds of fleeing townsfolk and peered anxiously through the smoke-filled air ahead.

_Are you really so eager to get rid of me?_ Rose demanded, not even trying to hide her bitter hurt from him as her eyes began to sting from the combination of smoke, cold, and loss. _I thought we had agreed on this. I thought you weren't going to try and push me away anymore ..._

_Rose ..._ Her name was all that he managed to convey using actual thought. Everything else he projected to her from the wordless depths of his hearts, and it crashed into Rose's mind like a freight train, nearly taking her breath away with it. His longing for her and the pain at being separated was only the underlying basis of his thoughts, almost completely overshadowed by the crushing weight of his duty to protect her at all costs that drowned out all else.

_I couldn't watch you wither away and die,_ he insisted desperately as Rose finally burst through the bell tower doors at the center of the devastated town and began to take the stairs two at a time. _I couldn't even take that risk ..._

Rose only had enough time to convey a general sense of her confusion in reply as she rounded the final corner and burst into the room where she knew the Doctor was waiting for her. She instantly froze in her tracks, however, as she gazed around in wonder at the surrounding walls, which were completely covered from floor to ceiling in childrens drawings. Rose knew that the Doctor had been collecting the precious souvenirs ever since they had first touched down in the town of Christmas, but the last time that she had seen him, his entire collection could have fit inside of a small book. Now, however, the cherished memories lined the room like wallpaper.

"Oh, Doctor ..." Rose breathed in quiet disbelief as understanding slowly began to dawn on her in waves. Clearly, he had been stuck here on Trenzalore for far longer than she had originally realized - all on his own, for all of that time, just because he wanted to save her.

As she crept slowly forward, Rose could see that the Doctor was sitting in an old wooden chair on the opposite end of the room. His posture was rigid and tense as he slowly turned to face her, the light from the crack in the wall behind him lighting up the cloud of wispy white hair that now donned his head.

"Hello again," he muttered quietly, his voice old and ragged and making Rose's heart weep with love for him.

"Hello, Doctor," she replied thickly as she desperately fought against the tears that were pricking the backs of her eyes.

"It's been a while," he greeted her, his smile looking weary and worn as he dropped his gaze to the carpet between them. Rose could sense that his thoughts had turned wary and self-conscious as he quietly mused, _Still as beautiful as ever. Still deserving of so much more than a tired old man like me._

"Looks like you failed again," Rose cut him off, flashing him a small, sad smile as she slowly stepped forward and bent to sit by his side, taking one of his wrinkled, frail hands in both of hers and placing a gentle kiss against his knuckles. "Still can't manage to get rid of me, eh?"

The Doctor chuckled quietly, and Rose felt a wide smile stretch across her face as his old green eyes sparkled with a familiar, fond expression. He slowly extended the fingers of the hand that she was holding onto and let them gently trace the shape of her cheek as he looked down on her in awe. "Out of the many failures that I have had to suffer in this life," he stated firmly, "this, I think, may be the only one that I will gladly accept."


	33. Chapter Thirty-Three

"Doctor!" a familiar, grating voice shouted, immediately interrupting Rose and the Doctor and striking fear into their collective hearts. "The Doctor will be brought! The daleks demand the Doctor!"

"Doctor, what are we going to do?" Rose asked quietly as she stared up at his defeated, weary expression.

"_We_ aren't going to do anything," he stated resolutely as he grabbed for the cane at his side and heaved himself upwards onto stiff, aching limbs. "_You_ are going to stay here. Promise me that, Rose - promise me you will."

Rose could feel hot, angry tears welling up behind her eyes once more as she relinquished her hold on the Doctor's hand and stood up to her full height to glare at him in response. "You've been here all of this time ..." she muttered quietly as she leveled her eyes on him. "All of this time, all on your own, because you lied to me _again_." Rose's jaw tightened as she raised her chin in stubborn defiance and stated, "Well, not this time. This time, I'm not leaving you, no matter what you say." When the Doctor's gaze dropped from hers in bitter defeat, she added, "And _when_ we both get out of this alive ... I'm _definitely_ installing a truth field in the TARDIS - don't think I won't!"

That, at least, startled a small chuckle from him as he slowly raised his eyes to hers once more. He took a few stuttering steps forward, his gaze and his movements hesitant as though he wasn't quite sure how to approach her anymore. He slowly raised his shaking hand to the back of Rose's neck and pulled her forward into his arms as he buried his face against her should. "My impossible girl ..." he whispered bitterly into her hair. _Too clever and too beautiful for me by far,_ he added silently _I've missed you._

Rose squeezed her eyes shut tight as she wrapped her own arms cautiously around his middle and felt the first of her tears begin to seep out onto the familiar tweed of his jacket. _Don't do this, Doctor,_ she begged him silently across their bond. _Please don't say goodbye._

"It's time," he muttered definitively in response, stepping back and looking down on her with those wide, green eyes that betrayed all of the anguished longing that he wouldn't admit to, not even across their telepathic connection.

Rose answered those unspoken words in the only way that she knew how - she stood on her tip-toes and pressed a gentle, desperate kiss to his lips as she filled his mind with all of the bold confidence that she could possibly muster in that moment. She knew that she would have to let him face the daleks alone - the Doctor would never allow it to be any other way - but she also knew that there was no way that she would just let him give up and die the way that he clearly wanted to, not while _she_ still had anything at all to say about it.

"Go," she whispered against his lips when she finally stepped away, not failing to catch the way that he subconsciously leaned back into her, clearly not ready to separate from her just yet after so long of being apart. "Give them hell," she added with a small, watery smile. "And don't you _dare_ give up."

He smiled as he laced his stiff, wrinkled fingers through hers one last time and gave her hand a parting squeeze. She was pleased to note that there was a new, determined look in his sad green eyes that hadn't been there a moment before, and Rose felt hope flare through her as she allowed herself to believe that perhaps she had finally managed to get through to him after all.

She waited until the Doctor had completely left the room, his footsteps fading into silence as he slowly ascended the winding stairs towards the top of the bell tower, before she narrowed her eyes back on the glowing crack in the wall behind her. She glared at the jagged, golden line as though it were the sole source of the danger currently threatening her bondmate's life as she rushed forward and bent down to meet the thing at eye-level.

"Listen to me, you lot," she growled menacingly. "Listen! _Help him_. I know that you can, and I know that you can hear me right now, so just _do it_!" Rose had to bite back the many other hateful, bitter words that she could feel welling up within her chest as she contemplated all that the Time Lords had done ot the Doctor and the many, _many_ things that they still owed him for. She closed her eyes and forced herself to take a deep, calming breath before she continued. She knew from long conversations with her husband about his people that irritating the pompous elite of Gallifrey would win her no favors.

"You've been asking a question ... and it's time someone told you you've been getting it wrong," she declared quietly. Rose knew that she could have given them the Doctor's true name just as easily as the Doctor himself could have done back when they had first arrived here. It would be such a small, simple thing to do in order to put an end to all of this chaos and destruction for good. But Rose decided in that moment that she would follow the example of her bondmate and not give either side the satisfaction of actually having their plan work out the way that they had intended it to. No, she had a plan that was even better - and an answer that would go far beyond what anyone else would have expected, just like the Doctor would have wanted.

"His name ... his name is _the Doctor_. All the name he needs - everything you need to know about him," Rose stated resolutely. "And if you love him - and you _should_ \- help him. _Please_." She hung her head as the tears began to flow once more and she felt the rest of her words being strangled into silence around the lump of emotion in her throat. She leaned her forehead wearily against the wall above the crack as she silently counted the seconds that ticked by.

When she got to number seven, there was a faint, shifting noise that had Rose's eyes immediately snapping open in alarm. She gasped in surprise as she was met with the sight of the swirling, golden haze that was currently seeping through the crack in the wall and slowly engulfing her in its embrace. She only just managed to reach out over her mental link to the Doctor in startled panic before the cloud of golden dust infiltrated her mouth and nose and quickly silenced all else with its overwhelming power.

The sensation that suddenly filled her was similar to that of the Bad Wolf as time steadily pulsed within her, but the energy was more concentrated this time - more purposeful. There was still a sense of eternity and endless possibility to it, but the burn that Rose felt in her bones felt as though it was coming from a single flame instead of that of every sun in all of existence.

_Rose, what have you done?_ the Doctor demanded, his thoughts running wild and panicked through her own mind as he desperately sought out the cause for her sudden pain and uneasiness.

_Doctor, hurry ..._ she called back distractedly as she gazed down in wonder at her own hands, which were now reflecting the same golden light as the crack in the wall.

Everything after that happened in a blur of light and sound and movement as Rose fought to separate the mess of glowing timelines converging and unraveling all around her. It was difficult to tell what was real and what was imagined as she dashed desperately for the stairs in an attempt to reach her bondmate. She didn't know what was happening to her, but she had a deep, instinctual need that seemed to be pushing her forward, moving her faster in an attempt to find the Doctor - _now_, before it was too late.

She eventually did find him - of that, she was certain - though the details of the process seemed to elude her. She didn't know if she had managed to rush up the stairs, or if he had ran down them. She didn't know if his face was old or new as his features seemed to blur and swirl together before her very eyes. She didn't know which one of them it was who eventually kissed the other in the end, either - she just knew that when their lips connected, there was a burning, searing pain that felt as though everything inside of her was exploding and reconverging all at the same time.

Rose knew that she lost consciousness somewhere along the way, but even in her sleep, her mind was filled with golden light and fiery combustions that seemed to go on into eternity, destroying and reforming her world into new, constantly shifting configurations.

When the haze finally lifted and she was able to see clearly once more, the steady sound of her rapidly-beating heart was the only sound that she could hear pounding away in her ears and filling her with a quiet sense of foreboding. Rose quickly realized that she was no longer in the town of Christmas, either, as she sat up and hesitantly gazed around the familiar setting of the TARDIS console room. The ship was groaning ominously in the back of her mind - almost as if the she was holding her breath, as though she were waiting for something to happen.

"Doctor?" Rose called out instinctively as she slowly raised herself to her feet. Every single one of her muscles felt sore, as though she had just finished running a marathon, but at the same time, a cocktail of endorphins were rushing through her system, flooding her with the type of manic, eager energy that she normally only ever associated with the Doctor.

As she fought to steady her erratic breathing and regain her bearings, Rose noticed that the console room floor around her had been littered with piles of old, worn clothes - chief among them, the Doctor's jacket, which looked as though it might have been serving as some sort of blanket or pillow for her while she had been lying on the floor.

"Doctor?" she called out again, her voice a little louder and more concerned as she peered at the glowing console controls and caught sight of the half-empty bowl of what looked like custard, with long strips of something that had been battered and fried floating in it. She turned her nose up slightly at the strange sight as she turned her gaze away and focused instead in the direction of the sound of quiet boot steps on the stairs before her.

"Doctor!" she sighed in happy relief as she finally caught sight of the familiar features of her bondmate as she knew him - the bright green eyes and floppy dark hair restored over a fresh jacket and bowtie.

"Hello," he replied quietly as he flashed her a small smile that refused to meet his eyes. Rose's own cheery grin began to falter and fall as she mentally reached for him and was met with nothing but a solid, cold wall of denial. He was purposefully shielding his thoughts from her in a way that he almost never did, and it instantly made her nervous.

"Doctor?" she called his name again in question as she hesitantly stepped closer. "What's wrong?"

"It's started," he stated, still watching her with that blank, empty smile on his face. "I can't stop it now, this is just the reset. A whole new regeneration cycle." His gaze dropped to his boots as he paused to gesture lamely at himself. "Taking a bit longer - just breaking it in."

He took a few steps forward, but ended up half-collapsing against the TARDIS console as he struggled to keep himself together against the weight that seemed to be pressing down on him. Rose was immediately at his side, one hand on his back and the other on his arm as she attempted to steady him further.

"Doctor, no, please ..." she whispered desperately. "This can't be happening. Please tell me this isn't happening ..."

"It all just disappears, doesn't it?" the Doctor murmured distractedly as he turned his wild, unfocused gaze back to Rose. "Everything you are, gone in a moment, like ... breath on a mirror." Another strange, empty smile began to turn up his features as the Doctor's gaze scanned over Rose's features, eventually settling on her lips. "Any moment now ... he's a-comin'."

"Don't say that, Doctor, stay with me," Rose begged, reaching out and twining her fingers around his neck to bring him closer. "Please, stay with me," she breathed in desperation as she pressed her forehead against his.

"Always," the Doctor replied with a small huff of unamused laughter. He leaned in to kiss her, but his lips just barely managed to brush against her own before his breath hitched and his head whipped around to focus on something that Rose couldn't see.

"Amelia!" the Doctor called out excitedly.

"Doctor?" Rose asked questioningly as she peered up at his wide, unfocused eyes that seemed to be tracking something invisible through the upper levels of the console room. "What's going on? Who's there?"

"The first face this face saw," he explained distantly as he turned away from her in order to follow the phantom that only he could see. Suddenly, his hand reached up as though to touch something - or some_one_ \- and Rose felt the tears that she had been fighting against finally break loose and slip down her cheeks as she watched a wide, heartbroken smile light up the Doctor's features.

When he finally turned back to her, there were tears in his eyes as well as he reached up and slowly unwound the old bowtie from around his neck. He rolled the stip of fabric into a tight ball and then pressed it firmly into Rose's hands, both of his gripping hers tightly as he stared deep into her eyes. "Keep an eye on it, Rose," he told her, his voice cracking quietly with emotion as his gaze roamed over her features once more. "And keep an eye on _him_, too."

Rose found that she could do nothing but gaze up at him in horror as his skin slowly began to glimmer and glow gold, just as hers had done earlier. "No, no, please don't change!" she cried as he stepped out of her reach and her hand raised automatically in an attempt to grab him back again. "Doctor ... don't go ..."

He was watching her with a small, sad smile on his face as he silently filled her head with devotion and reassurances, but his thoughts were immediately cut off as he threw his head back with a jolt and their bond flared between them. Rose gasped as a flash of fire shot through her and simmered like an ember in the back of her mind. When she was finally able to focus once more, she blinked and realized that there was a new man standing in front of her.

He was tall and skinny with a severe-looking nose and a pair of sharp eyebrows to match. His gray hair was cut into short curls around his head and his eyes were a bright, startling blue that were currently staring at her with an expression of wide-eyed shock.

Once again, Rose could do nothing but stare as she matched his look of surprise and watched as he slowly stepped towards her, his head tilting to the side slightly as though he were some sort of wild animal trying to assess if she was dangerous or not. 

She held her breath as she counted the strange man's footsteps as he grew closer and closer until all of a sudden, she could feel the Doctor's presence in the back of her mind once more as he slowly eased himself back into all of the places that he had occupied before, as though he were slowly testing out the waters of her thoughts.

_Doctor ...?_ Rose called out hesitantly to him, desperate to grasp onto any small reassurance that she could find that would convince her that her bondmate wasn't completely gone for good.

The strange man before her seemed to freeze in his tracks at her tentative mental touch and then his entire body convulsed as he bent backwards once more and grabbed painfully at his side.

"Kidneys!" he cried out through clenched teeth. "I've got new kidneys!" He was still staring at her, as though he were waiting for her to say or do something, but Rose had absolutely no idea what was meant to happen next. She had already been through a regeneration with the Doctor once before, but she found that it hadn't quite adequately prepared her for _this_. There had been no flames, no fire, no watching as his face slowly rearranged itself into new and unfamiliar features. He was just _there_ one moment, and the next ...

"I don't like the color," the man before her declared, his already-severe-looking eyebrows coming together in a dark scowl as he glared at her.

"Of your kidneys ...?" Rose asked in quiet confusion. She furrowed her own brows as she noticed for the first time that this man seemed to be speaking in a Scottish accent - just one more new addition that managed to set her whole world slightly off-kilter.

Just then, the TARDIS gave a mighty jolt around them, sending them both rocking into the console as they fought to maintain their balance.

"What's happening?" Rose cried out in terror as the old ship groaned and rattled dangerously beneath their feet.

"We're probably crashing!" the strange man called back as he turned his scowl to the TARDIS controls and roughly flipped a few switches. "Stay calm," he commanded as he continued to focus down at the buttons near his hands. "Just one question - do you happen to know how to fly this thing?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so, so much to everyone who has bookmarked, subscribed, and left comments and kudos on this story! I had an absolute blast writing this, and your appreciation and encouragement has made the process so extremely rewarding! The story will continue with Rose and the Twelfth Doctor in a new fic, coming soon. I hope you all have a fantastic day and happy holidays! Geronimo! <3 <3  
If you'd like, you can support this fic on Fanfiction.net and Wattpad, and you can follow me on Tumblr @chasingthecosmos.


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